An Arkansas state trooper, Michael Austin Kennedy, has resigned after some very ugly messages he sent were brought out during divorce proceedings.
And yes, this is one of those cases where the group chat should have stayed in the grave.
According to court filings shared during the divorce, his wife of 12 years presented dozens of texts that were described as racist and deeply offensive. Not exactly the kind of receipts you want read out loud in a courtroom.
Once those messages surfaced, things moved fast. Kennedy left the Arkansas State Police on May 15, more than a month after the documents were filed. That timing says a lot without saying anything at all.
This was not a quiet exit either. It had all the ingredients of a public reputation collapse, court filings, screenshots and a very uncomfortable spotlight.
In the texts, Kennedy allegedly spews vile insults against all people other than white men. He uses the slurs “n—-r” and “s–c” in almost every message published in the complaint.
Kennedy’s wife, Alana, filed the complaint seeking sole custody of their two children with visitation rights for their father.
She described her fear that Kennedy’s “white supremacist” beliefs would “poison the minds of the children” and “instill this same hatred” in them. The children, meanwhile, also “currently fear” for Kennedy “due to his constant spewing of hate and irrational thoughts,” according to the complaint.
Alana also accused Kennedy of abusing his position as a state trooper — as demonstrated in selfies he allegedly sent her of himself posing with detained Hispanic people, bragging about his new “trophy.”
In several messages, the trooper plainly states his twisted beliefs, ranging from the banishment of Muslims from America to repealing the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote.
In others, he texts unprompted, nonsensical rants, typically about wrong-way drivers he assumes are intoxicated illegal immigrants or tirades against women and black people.
His resignation marked the end of his law enforcement role, but not the end of the conversation. Once something like this becomes part of legal proceedings, it tends to follow a person long after the badge is gone.
He frequently demeaned his wife for her goodwill, sneering that she didn’t “hate [immigrants] enough.”
“You don’t f–king hate them enough. The s–t that clogged up [their son’s] toilet is worth more to me than any of them,” Kennedy wrote in one text.
When Alana texted him a warning about traffic buildup on a local highway, Kennedy claimed that a Hispanic man was responsible.
“But if we had a nation and a border, you would’ve been on time,” Kennedy wrote.
In another tense exchange, Alana innocently asked Kennedy if he could bring their son a drink. Instead, Kennedy raged that he couldn’t because “n—-rs were n—-ring” in Little Rock.
“In N—-rland, you have to pull guns on people driving down the road. It’s what you do all day long, every day. And then kids that actually have dads don’t get to see them because they have to go deal with it,” Kennedy seethed.
Kennedy reluctantly acknowledged his racist statements in his own filing on May 21. He insisted that the texts were “outdated” and came before he sought therapy and spiritual guidance at their church.
And as far as life lessons go, this one is pretty simple: Racism is still very prevalent in the United States, and the people who are supposed to protect us are our biggest enemies.
