Jeff Campbell’s I Am Raverro Tells Story of Union Station Beating
Raverro Stinnett’s life changed drastically in the spring of 2018. The artist, who was waiting for a ride home on public transportation at Union Station after attending a gala at RedLine gallery, was profiled, beaten and left with permanent brain damage by security guards with Allied Universal Security Services, the firm that contracts with the Regional Transportation District to keep the peace at the station.
Stinnett wasn’t identified in early coverage of the incident, nor when the guards pleaded guilty in December 2018. But that changed earlier this year when he filed a lawsuit against Allied and RTD. Not long after that, George Floyd’s murder at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer blew the lid off the simmering Black Lives Matter movement. That’s all it took for Stinnett’s story to go nationwide.
Yet with the exception of boardmember Shontel Lewis, the RTD board has voted to continue working with Allied.