Jay-Z’s Team ROC Fights For Justice In Kansas City Police Abuse
Jay-Z’s Team ROC Fights For Justice In Corrupt Kansas City Police Abuse Case
Since becoming a billionaire and one of the most influential people in Hip-Hop culture, Jay-Z has used his powers for good, and now, he’s at it again.
The Brooklyn-born rapper’s Team ROC —the philanthropic sector of his Roc Nation imprint— is joining the fight alongside a group of women going up against a corrupt Kansas City, Kansas, cop.
Michelle Houcks, Saundra Newsom, Niko Quinn, Ophelia Williams, and Richelle Miller are the women behind a civil rights lawsuit that was dismissed Aug. 6. The filing named the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas, blaming them for protecting Roger Golubski, a former police officer with a history of misconduct.
Roc Nation’s statement first recalls a 1994 case where Officer Golubski framed then 17-year-old Lamonte McIntyre for a double murder because his mother refused his sexual advances.
McIntyre served 23 years in prison before being exonerated in 2017 and eventually led to a $12.5 million settlement because of Golubski’s and other officers’ actions.
Team ROC dug deeper into the KCKPD’s cases from the 1990s and, in turn, obtained eight FBI reports accusing the police department of “misconduct and heinous crimes,” and a request for transparency was “met with resistance.”
But then in 2022, the Department of Justice indicted Golubski on federal sexual assault and sex trafficking charges, which unearthed more moments of abuse of power.
“The indictment recounts how Golubski and others committed heinous acts such as “-punish[ing] [women] by being beaten and that one woman was strung upside-down by her feet in a closet as punishment,” and how one woman was “struck with an iron; dragged down a staircase by her hair; and repeatedly struck.”
Golubski died by suicide in December 2024 when his trial was just beginning, and earlier this year, U.S. District Judge Toby Crouse dismissed the civil rights suit filed by Houcks, Newsom, Quinn, Williams, and Miller, claiming the two-year statute of limitations had expired.
Team ROC is fighting for the court to believe that the two-year window shouldn’t have started until after his death, because victims were too afraid to come forward when he was alive.
The statement continued, “If this appellate court agrees with the victims’ view on the timeliness of the filing of these types of suits, this would set a major precedent for similar cases nationwide, leading to increased accountability and visibility surrounding systematic abuse.”
Team ROC Managing Director Dania Diaz argues that this ruling could affect cases around the country and make sure those in law enforcement face legal action for their crimes.
“This isn’t just about one corrupt officer or department —it’s about protecting communities across the country from institutional misconduct by state officials,” Diaz said. “Setting the right example in places like Kansas City, Kansas —where community members have been subject to decades of harm— is critical to ensure that government officials are being transparent and will be called to answer for their conduct if they violate the law.”
