LEO Weekly June 4, 2020

#JUSTICEFORBREONNA

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DAY-TO-DAY COVERAGE AND COMMENTARY LEOWEEKLY.COM //JUNE 4, 2020

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A LETTER TO THE COMMUNITY

LIKE LEO? HERE’S HOW TO HELP.

BY LEO WEEKLY We at LEO offer our sincerest congratulations to The Courier Journal for winning its 11th Pulitzer Prize, this one for studiously and unrelentingly chronicling the avalanche of last-minute pardons and commutations handed out by the corrupt, craven and mercenary Gov.-reject Matt Bevin.

We are fortunate as a city to have it as our paper. In a poignant tribute and plea, former CJ reporter Howard Fineman wrote in The Washington Post that the paper’s latest plaudit “should remind us (and surely was meant to remind us), that what we call ‘local’ journalism is profoundly essential to self-government as the Founders designed it, and to the American way of life.” He cited a study that found nearly 1,800 newspapers have closed since 2004, and he said, “Virtually all of the remaining 7,000 are thinner and weaker than ever.” He implored you to subscribe to the paper because, as the op-ed’s headline said: “My former newspaper is struggling — and is more important than ever.”

This is all true, but there is more.

What Fineman’s op-ed neglected to underscore is that the news media landscape extends far beyond daily newspapers and must include alternative weeklies.

Alt-weeklies also provide “local journalism” and are “profoundly essential.” They are critically important because they work in the margins and areas where newspapers do not or cannot. They provide free-to-read accounts of a community’s culture, ethos and priorities. Good ones are not substitutes for daily newspapers, although their coverage and stories may overlap.

At LEO, our goal since John Yarmuth founded it in 1990 has been to dive deeply into areas that The CJ and other mainstream news media have neglected, dismissed or overlooked. Accordingly, LEO is the authority on local music, theater and visual arts. We publish A&E guides twice a year. Every issue of LEO has (or had) at least two food and drink stories, including reviews, a beer column and insiders’ views on the service industry. We offer a range of commentary, which, admittedly, skews left but also has included conservative and right-leaning views (such as a column from, gasp — Mitch McConnell). We print op-eds that The CJ would not, such as from Black Lives Matter. We champion equality and provide a voice to the LGBTQ+ community. Our printed and online lists celebrate the best things to do in the region to help you plan your week and weekends. We also publish news stories that are written differently (we’d like to say, more interestingly) than a newspaper would run. They include primary source stories (first-person) and stories told through alternative (there is that word again) formats. Our core topics include those that the daily paper rarely touches, such as urban planning, race relations, labor and the environment (since The CJ’s ace enviro reporter moved on). And, they include media criticism (we are looking at you CJ, but we have given ourselves thorns) because who else is going to do it?

In short, Louisville has at least six ways you can get your news, counting TV and radio.

We try to not be like any of them.

We try not to tell the same story.

We try to be more interesting and less predictable.

And the hundreds of thousands of people who read us and click on our stories tell us we are doing something right.

Alas, LEO, as you might imagine, also has been crippled by this virus, as have alt-weeklies across the nation.

LEO is free to pick up and relies almost entirely on advertising. No subscriptions. No grants. No membership drive for donations twice a year.

The backbone of our advertising is entertainment (think: music, ballet, theater and visual art) and food and drink. Similarly, we distribute to places where people enjoy those activities and relax (think: bars, coffee shops, restaurants, etc.), and those have been closed. LEO already runs lean and has not had to furlough any editorial staff — yet — but our editorial budget has been cut by three-quarters. LEO has been online-only mostly since the epidemic began. Starting with this issue, our goal is to publish a print edition every other week. Fortunately, we have been an outlier among alt-weeklies, so far.

A story from NiemanLab listed more than 40 alt-weeklies that had taken steps to survive within just days of us all realizing this pandemic was real.

Many suspended print publication, others furloughed staff and, still, others asked for donations.

They included Pittsburgh City Paper, which launched a membership program: “in order to help fight some of these losses, with the hope that readers who depend on our daily coverage of local news, arts, music, food, and entertainment recognize the importance in the work we do to keep the city informed and want us to continue.”

We like that idea!

Won’t you please consider helping to fund LEO’s mission by underwriting a reporter or providing financial support for more stories?

You could sponsor a reporter to cover a specific topic or issue, such as visual arts or theater or labor… or poverty… or the environment or… you name it.

Perhaps you want to sponsor a weekly column on dance or jazz, or you want to underwrite a series of stories on land use in The West End. You would not have a say in exactly what we write and what gets printed, but you would see more coverage in the area you have selected.

If you are interested, please contact us at: leoweekly.com And, please, if you value LEO and want us to continue to survive and thrive, continue picking up the papers, continue sharing stories on social media and consider advertising if you do not already.

As always but particularly now, thank you for reading LEO, and thanks to all of you who have emailed and called to ask when you would see another printed edition on the news stands.

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LEOWEEKLY.COM // JUNE 4, 2020

click on LEOWEEKLY.COM READ MORE AT LEOWEEKLY.COM/WEB

Chanelle Helm and Rebecca Frederick. | PHOTO BY NERISSA SPARKMAN.

MEET BLACK LIVES MATTER LOUISVILLE AND YOUR LOCAL ANTIFA Throughout this issue, you’ll find an array of content about the protests that have rocked Louisville over the past week. Go to LEO’s Facebook page to read about two of the groups that are working toward change in our community. “Racial justice in Louisville in black and white” is about Black Lives Matter Louisville, Louisville Showing Up For Racial Justice and how white allies can assist with civil rights issues. “Louisville Antifa: Inside Two Of The City’s Most Militant Activist Groups” tells the story of local anti-fascist groups and their tactics.

#JUSTICEFORBREONNA

ON THE COVER

PHOTO BY KATHRYN HARRINGTON

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DAY-TO-DAY COVERAGE AND COMMENTARY

LOUISVILLE ECCENTRIC OBSERVER

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Jo Anne Triplett, jtriplettart@yahoo.com

LEO Weekly is published weekly by LEO Weekly LLC. Copyright LEO Weekly LLC. All rights reserved. The opinions expressed herein are exclusively those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Publisher. LEO Weekly is available free of charge, limited to one copy per reader. No portion may be reproduced in whole or in part by any means, including electronic retrieval systems, without the express permission of LEO Weekly LLC. LEO Weekly may be distributed only by authorized independent contractors or authorized distributors. Louisville Eccentric Observer (LEO) is a trademark of LEO Weekly LLC.

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EDITOR’S NOTE

RETHINKING THE POLICE: NO TRAFFIC STOPS, NO-KNOCK WARRANTS

By Aaron Yarmuth | ayarmuth@leoweekly.com JUSTICE FOR BREONNA isn’t enough.

To stop the unjust, unnecessary killings of Black Americans, what is needed is fundamental change in the powers and responsibilities of police, as well as our expectations of them.

Simply, state and local police should no longer have the authority to engage civilians.

What does that mean?

Just keep the peace.

No more traffic stops. Only in cases when a driver is a threat to themself or others — reckless driving or driving under the influence, for example. Speeding and other minor traffic violations can be enforced electronically.

No more broken taillights, expired tags or “wide” turns.

No more “pretextual stops.” No more drug dogs and car searches. No more stop and frisk.

No more temporary detainment for perceived suspicious activities.

At most, police should be allowed to cite someone who’s publicly intoxicated and make sure they have a ride home.

Police should be allowed to engage people

UNDERCOVER

MANOFMETTLE.COM

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LEOWEEKLY.COM // JUNE 4, 2020

only when there is imminent danger or an emergency or they are called. For instance, domestic disturbances or violence in the home; break-ins; a fight breaks out; a car is stranded and so on.

And they won’t need to wear a utility belt for their weapons. Guns stay in the station and come out for emergencies, while the Taser, club, flashlight and everything else remains in the car.

Just keep the peace.

In turn, we won’t expect them to execute noknock warrants. We won’t put them in dangerous, complex situations or ask them to fight an unwinnable drug war. Going after drug dealers, killers and violent criminals will be handled by only a specific unit, trained for — and limited to — those situations. And, when possible, cases go to the FBI, DEA and U.S. Marshals.

That may not be the perfect solution, but here is why is this important: Local law enforcement has proven itself incapable of handling more complex situations.

LMPD officers clearly aren’t equipped to handle a drug investigation without killing an innocent Black woman in her own home.

LMPD officers, Kentucky State Police and the National Guard clearly can’t disperse a crowd eating barbecue past curfew in The West End without killing a restaurant owner.

Minneapolis police clearly aren’t capable of questioning an unarmed Black man without two officers holding his body down, while another kneels on his neck and another ensures nobody interferes with the slow, torturous murder.

I heard author, activist and co-host of “Pod Save The People” DeRay Mckesson say this morning that for the last 20 years, according to the FBI, only 5% of arrests in America have been for violent crimes. Meanwhile, police are staffed as though 50% of arrests are for violent crimes. “We don’t need someone with a gun to go intervene in cases when there’s a mental health crisis. We don’t need someone with a gun to be at car accidents. We don’t need someone with a gun to find missing kids. We need to take all those responsibilities, shift those to experts and make sure that the resources shift to those experts, too … We have to shrink the role of the policing apparatus wholly.”

Police would still patrol neighborhoods, but since they wouldn’t be out to find trouble, residents would know that they aren’t being targeted. To the contrary, the police would be there only to help in times of need.

Perhaps, after they’ve regained the community’s trust, exceptions can be made for those police who just feel like helping out.

What a novel idea — a public force out to help people in need!

And, if there is a protest going on, the police can protect the protesters. This may sound crazy to the many craven, militarized police forces around the country, but look elsewhere.

Look at the Lexington police who kneeled before hundreds of protesters.

Look at the Flint, Michigan sheriff who removed his helmet, said, “I want to make this a parade, not a protest,” and marched with protesters. And look at the multitude of other police kneeling, praying and embracing protesters around the nation.

These heartwarming scenes are proof that police can be a positive influence in their communities.

Unfortunately, history has also proven that there aren’t enough of those heroes to stop the injustice.

Too many police will abuse their power and authority to terrorize and tear apart Black communities.

Changing policies and protocols won’t lead to change on the streets. Even being caught on camera won’t stop cops from killing innocent, unarmed Black people.

They don’t deserve the power we’ve allowed them to usurp. We have to take away the guns, the badges and their position of power.

All they have to do is just keep the peace. •

VIEWS

BLACK LIVES MATTER–LOUISVILLE:

BREONNA TAYLOR, KENNETH WALKER, DAVID MCATEE, COVID-19 AND ANTI-BLACKNESS

By BLM–Louisville ON THE EVENING of May 31, LMPD and just when living their lives. From the food pantry line to the corner store to the courtthe National Guard drove into the Russell room, the pandemic has illuminated what we neighborhood of West Louisville. They had already know. no good reason to be there, and no protesting As if Breonna’s killing was not enough, was taking place. the government tried to charge Breonna’s In downtown and East Louisville the night boyfriend Kenneth Walker with attempted before, groups were dispersed after curfew murder. Kenneth had every right and reason with loudspeakers and pepper bullets and tear to defend his home and Breonna. Many white gas and flash-bang grenades, or they were Americans advocate for gun rights and the left alone. But in West Louisville, LMPD and Second Amendment, but they have been the National Guard went right for live ammo. silent about this real-life example of what They do not value Black lives, and they are they claim to advocate for: a person’s right not held to the same standards for the use to bear arms to protect of force as in white their life and loved neighborhoods.

Breonna Taylor’s ones and, if need be, Now we have one killing in March to protect themselves more of our own to from a government grieve, David McAtee. wasn’t brought that unjustly seeks to Some people may deprive of them of that. wonder how we got up until after Dismantling antihere. On March 13, Ahmaud Arbery, Blackness is a daily Louisville police Dismantling executed a reporta Black man who practice. white supremacy is our edly falsified warrant, goal. looked for drugs they was chased and For many white never found, reportedly gunned down by people, the need to trafficked by a person a gun has nothing who did not live with two white suprem- carry to do with protecting Breonna Taylor or in a home, as Kenny did, her complex and who acists (one of nor to protect lives, as they had already in whom was a former Breonna did. White custody. In the wake and toxic of COVID-19, a global police officer) for supremacy masculinity require pandemic, Breonna Taylor was an essential jogging in a Georgia guns for power and control. During a global worker working as a suburb. pandemic, in a time of first responder. She such need, where our put her body on the Black and Brown communities are shoulderfront lines to save lives, only to be brutally ing such a disproportionate share of the pain murdered by LMPD. and suffering, our city’s focus should not Detectives Brett Hankison and Myles Cosgrove and Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly carried be on over-policing to kick us when we are down. Our city should not be gunning us out a no-knock raid in plain clothes. They down and claiming murder is public safety. broke in unannounced, according to multiple For months, Breonna Taylor’s murder witnesses, sprayed her home with 20 rounds, was widely ignored by the media while shot Breonna at least eight times and killed they directed attention to the COVID-19 her. pandemic.

During this pandemic, one that has Breonna Taylor’s killing in March wasn’t disproportionately killed Black people, Black brought up until after Ahmaud Arbery, a people have seen no change in the typically Black man who was chased and gunned down disproportionate public compassion and outby two white supremacists (one of whom rage. Resources are continually segregated. was a former police officer) for jogging in a As we have recently seen, populations of Georgia suburb.

Black and Brown people are overly policed, When the state commits violence against and they are met with force and intimidation Black women it is usually unreported or and death when trying to demand justice or

Breonna Taylor, 26, was killed March 13. | FAMILY PHOTO.

underreported and this is an extension of misogynoir. Her life matters. And Breonna Taylor should still be here with us, yet she isn’t. Mayor Greg Fischer and now formerpolice Chief Steve Conrad were silent for two months until #BreonnaTaylor went internationally viral.

Fischer’s story about how the job of a police officer is a difficult one, “full of splitsecond decisions,” is misleading and callous.

It would never be plausible or acceptable to the public but for white supremacy. Fischer knew this death resulted from a premeditated, botched, no-knock raid on the home of an innocent woman. His statement is not about justice as he claims, and it serves no purpose other than to give undeserved credence to LMPD. Fischer is anything but impartial.

Breonna Taylor’s life was devalued, and LMPD trivialized, justified and lied about her murder. To this day LMPD refuses to hold their officers accountable and paves the way for more systemic police violence and murder in Black communities and communities of Color, as we have just seen with the killing of David McAtee.

This major global pandemic has seen waves of police violence across the nation.

In Indianapolis, three people were just killed by the police within a span of eight hours: two Black men, Sean Reed and McHale Rose, and a pregnant white woman named Ashlynn Lisby. On May 19, LMPD shot a Black teenager in Fern Creek. As COVID-19 ravages Black, Indigenous, and communities of Color, the state hemorrhages the resources to overpolice these very communities and hypercriminalize and kill Black and Brown bodies.

Louisville is one of the nation’s most racially segregated cities. West Louisville is hostage to police violence and deprived of basic resources such as food; we live in a food and resource apartheid. Police violence is additionally a reproductive justice issue, as police violence disrupts and destroys families.

Reproductive justice includes the opportunity for all families, not just some, to raise their children in safe and healthy communities with rights to autonomy and self-determination.

Let’s be clear about something: Black people are not criminals, and Black people do not own violence. •

LEOWEEKLY.COM //JUNE 4, 2020

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HOW YOU CAN TAKE ACTION NOW! LSURJ, or Louisville Showing Up for Racial Justice, has presented the following demands from Breonna Taylor’s family and the local organizers.

THE DEMANDS: 1. Demand the mayor and Metro Council address the use of force by LMPD. 2. Fire and revoke the pensions of the officers that murdered Breonna. Arrest, charge, and convict them for this crime. Ensure ... State AG Daniel Cameron, seeks full transparency and accountability.

3. Provide all necessary information to a local, independent civilian community police accountability council #CPAC. 4. Create policy for transparent investigation process due to law enforcement misconduct.

5. Drop all charges for Kenneth Walker, Breonna’s boyfriend, who attempted to defend them and their home.

6. Release the 911 call to the public for accountability.

By request of the family and local organizers, please do not add additional demands that have not been confirmed by the family.

NOW, HERE IS HOW YOU CAN HELP MAKE THESE DEMANDS HEARD: Visit JusticeForBreonna.org, click the “Take Action” button and follow the instructions in the Google Document to act now.

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LEOWEEKLY.COM // JUNE 4, 2020

VIEWS

MANAGING EDITOR’S NOTE

MARCHING FOR BREONNA TAYLOR… OR 400 YEARS LATER, JUSTICE STILL BLACK AND MOSTLY WHITE

By Keith Stone | kstone@leoweekly.com THE REMOVAL of a hand from the King Louis XVI statue during last Thursday night’s street protests over Breonna Taylor’s killing may very well carry the weight of premonition for Louisville and America.

This King Louis was famously beheaded in the French Revolution, erasing with him the vestiges of monarchy from that country. Louisville was named for him, ironically, because of his support of American rebels trying to break away from monarchy during our first full revolution.

For Louisville, the next few days and weeks will tell whether this most-recent outrage over more deaths of innocent Black people will extend to revolution — physical or political — or whether it will simply fizzle out into complacency with a side of Netflix and chill as it tends to do.

The first night of Louisville’s protests last Thursday, which brought some 500 people and some say many more, was one of several across the country that now extend around the world.

Most notably, they included one in Minneapolis where George Floyd was killed beneath the knee of a cop because he was suspected of the capital offense of forging a check.

Breonna Taylor, as we know, was shot to death by police in her home after they reportedly faked an affidavit for a no-knock warrant and broke through her door in early morning hours.

When they shot her, they had already arrested the main focus of their investigation at another address. No drugs were found in her home.

Last Friday, as city workers cleaned the graffiti and assessed damage to public property downtown, Mayor Greg Fischer took to Facebook to ask the city to remain peaceful. Seven people had been shot, not fatally, during the protest, by whom it is not yet clear.

Standing beside Metro Police Lt. Col. LaVita Chavous, a Black woman wearing a mask, Fischer asserted that those shootings were not by police.

“These shots came from within the crowd, not from police officers. No officers fired their weapons. If you hear anything to the contrary, that is not factual,” he said.

But, how are we to believe that when police are accused of lying to get the warrant to enter Breonna Taylor’s home without knocking and claimed they had given her and her boyfriend enough notice before doing so — even though a 911 tape shows they had failed?

Fischer pledged Breonna Taylor’s death would force changes to help ensure that no more innocent Black people are shot by Louisville

Protesters at Sixth and Jefferson streets. | PHOTO BY KATHRYN HARRINGTON.

police — the city will temporarily suspend the use of no-knock warrants, is making sure all police wear body cameras and is improving civilian oversight of the police, including giving them subpoena power. We found out Monday that police either didn’t have body cameras on or their cameras were not running when they shot and killed David McAtee at a parking lot party far from the protests.

Fischer promised Louisville’s cops would be better.

“We understand this is just incident in a book of unequal power dynamic between law enforcement and African Americans in America,” Fischer said, sweeping his hand to explain, “for 400 years.”

And this is playing out in our city. I think our opportunity is to show the country how we can get this right, how we can work together to make change, to make positive change and do so in a peaceful manner.”

Really?

Why should it have taken 400 years?

And why should it only now be apparent that no-knock warrants are wrong, that all police should wear body cams and that the city has long needed much, much more civilian review of the police — and with subpoena powers?

More words.

“These changes and more to come, we are not done, should signal to the community that we will continue to make improvements anywhere we can. Breonna Taylor’s name and her story will now be part of our city’s history,” he said.

“In Louisville, we have been committed to this for years, and the events have shown we still have much to do, we have always know that, we are committed to this work — whatever it takes and for how long it takes,” Fischer said.

Whatever it takes to provoke change was a street protest that ended with minor damage and seven people shot.

Perhaps that is why the mayor should not expect the street protests to stop now, because they seem to be working.

It also seems like the community is not satis-

fied with waiting.

As for the police, despite their words of empathy, they plan to meet protesters directly and with force, and they have no apologies about doing so.

After Fischer spoke, Chavous took the lectern.

“Our goal will be to allow for the peaceful expression of protest. We value the right to free speech and understand this community has a lot to say right now. We hear you,” she said. “We will not tolerate violence that leads to people being hurt. We will not tolerate destruction of our beautiful city. We are prepared to take whatever action we must to try to ensure no one else is injured during this time of unrest.”

“Allow for the peaceful expression of protest”?

As Martin Luther King. Jr. said: “Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”

For Louisville, the next few days and weeks will tell how those demands look. • LEOWEEKLY.COM //JUNE 4, 2020

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UPCOMING EVENTS Stay home and stay safe while still supporting your favorite local places with online and future events.

Weekly Psychic & Mediumship Development Group

JUN

Jessica Tanselle: Medium

Full Moon Meditation & Ceremony

JUN 3

Jessica Tanselle: Medium

TransInclusive Workplace 101

JUN 5

Queer Kentucy

JUN 6

Glassware & the Cocktails that Go in Them Make & Muddle

JUN 13

Martinis

Make & Muddle JUN 13

Queer Kentucky Awards 2020 Play Louisville

redpintix.com 8

LEOWEEKLY.COM // JUNE 4, 2020

MAKE THE POLICE, JUSTICE SYSTEM LESS RACIST

By John Yarmuth | leo@leoweekly.com THERE IS SO MUCH to say. Too much for this column. But there is no time to waste.

I’ve been writing columns for a long time. Usually, I try not to write something that others have written. Today, I realize that in some situations, that’s not the right attitude. Some points have to be made over and over again, because America is hardheaded.

Although most Americans are not racists, we have a racist country. We have to change or — pay attention — we will not have a country, or at least not a country worth living in.

About one in six Americans wake up every morning wondering whether they will be killed that day. In Louisville, it’s more like one in four. How can any of us feel comfortable in a community where that is a fact of life? This week we have maybe found out that we can’t, or at least we don’t like it.

My job is a frustrating but rewarding one. The only tools I have are my voice, my vote and my time. I don’t run a police force, and I don’t want to, but you don’t have to be in my position to know there is a lot wrong with our police forces. They aren’t always honest. They’re not always fair. They don’t always administer justice equally. When they fail, it is almost always Black people who pay the price.

Breonna Taylor paid with her life.

George Floyd, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner and many others paid with theirs. Very few of their killers have been held accountable.

We all must take responsibility for

a system that sacrifices so many of our fellow citizens to injustice, whether it’s simple harassment, disproportionate incarceration, or in George Floyd’s case, cold-blooded murder. We should demand something very different, as the many valiant protesters in Louisville and across the country are doing.

I’ve always tried to stay in my lane in relation to state and local policies.

However, watching and listening to my constituents has convinced me of a few policies that need changing.

We need to stop “broken mirror” policing. That means police don’t waste time stopping citizens for minor transgressions such as loitering or having a broken mirror on their car. White people don’t get hassled nearly as much as Black people do, and too many of these encounters turn violent.

Police shouldn’t stop any car unless it is endangering people. If there is a violation, take down the license plate and send the owner of the car a citation. In Washington, D.C., even speeders are cited by mail. We know that Black people, even community leaders such as the Rev. Kevin Cosby, get stopped only because they are Black.

I know we have a civilian review board, but we need a full-time review capability — something like an independent inspector general — that can continuously monitor police actions to make sure that policing is random and not targeted.

There is an organization called Campaign Zero that has put forth an entire

agenda of policies to make police forces less racist. Mayor Greg Fischer and the Metro Council should seriously consider them.

Finally, we as a community and a country must keep the pressure on our entire justice system to level its racial tilt.

I have been uplifted by the age and diversity of protesters here and around the country. It’s a positive sign that so many younger citizens, white, Black and brown are in the streets pushing for a more just nation. They should keep the heat on me and every other public official to honor our oaths to protect and defend the lives and liberties of every citizen.

And that is only a start.

We have a country that has never lived up to the promise that all people are created equal. I have a 10-month-old grandson. If you put him next to a Black child born on the same day and were asked which one you would bet would have a better life, you’d surely bet on my guy. He will never be hungry, or homeless, or inadequately educated. He also will probably never be killed by police.

So, as we make sure the Black child is as safe from the police as my grandson, which is today’s crisis, let’s also work on making that bet a more even proposition.

More on that to come. • U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, founder of LEO, has represented Kentucky’s 3rd Congressional District since 2007 and is now chairman of the House Budget Committee.

VIEWS

WHAT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY?

FOR TOO MANY WHITE PEOPLE, DOING NOTHING SEEMS TO BE THE ANSWER

By Catherine Fosl | leo@leoweekly.com WHAT ARE WE WHITE PEOPLE to do in the wake of the latest, highly publicized string of brutal wrongs people who look like us continue to do to innocent Black people?

Recent tragic episodes range from a white woman calling police with the lie that an innocent Black birdwatcher is assaulting her in New York’s Central Park, to a vigilante neighborhood “patrol” who guns down a Black jogger in the street in Brunswick, Georgia, to a Minneapolis cop depriving George Floyd of breath and killing him, to police violence right here in Louisville that leaves Breonna Taylor, a young Black ER tech not accused of any crime shot dead in her own apartment in the middle of the night by at least eight police bullets.

Now, protests of rage and grief fill the streets of cities across the nation, ours included. Tragically, as I wrote this column, another person died from police bullets Sunday night in West Louisville after police had tear gassed the crowd and shot many with pepper balls, including one reporter. Yet the talk is about where the protesters turned violent.

We must instead ask where the violence began.

For Blacks and others who know U.S. history, this kind of racialized violence reveals an unbroken pattern that dates back to slave patrols and to the gruesome lynchings of Blacks that whites all over the South and Midwest poured into the streets by the hundreds to watch and cheer on less than a century ago. A strongly enforced belief system of white supremacy has poisoned our democracy from at least the moment slavery was first enshrined into colonial law in 1662, and it has never been rooted out despite measures in that direction periodically.

For a vocal minority of organized white supremacists who are again on the rise in our nation today (as they were 100 years ago), the pattern is indeed not a problem but a solution — deserved punishment of a people who refuse to stay in their second-class “place.” Others, like Amy Cooper in Central Park, who refused a Black man’s simple request to obey the law by leashing her dog, are more than willing to use assumptions of white victimization to their own personal advantage in a pinch.

But for the majority of whites, doing nothing seems to be the answer. To them, this pattern looks like bad luck or bad decisions. Or, more likely, it looks like nothing at all because they callously choose to deny or ignore some of the uglier facts of U.S. history and of today’s news cycles. Even amid massive street protests, they simply turn and look the other way.

Not my business, they think, with some taking extra care to isolate themselves from Blacks out of fear of their rage and condemning the damage to property more strongly than they did the murders that fueled it.

The more liberal, religious or sensitive among us may feel guilt, shame and powerlessness when we hear of each of these cruel injustices. But these painful feelings are often fleeting and quickly suppressed or replaced by other concerns.

Those are not the only choices we as white people have, however. Humans are creatures of habit, so to make a break from the herd of white silence, it helps to have examples to follow. In Louisville we have a powerful model from our own local history. Anne Braden (1924-2006) was a Louisvillian who spent more than 50 years taking action every day to end racial segregation and white supremacy, right up until her death at age 81.

Braden was the only Kentuckian named as one of a handful of reliable white supporters by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in his 1963 “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” By her later years, she was no longer the pariah she had been for most of her adult life but an acknowledged voice of conscience in this community who provided through her steady stream of writings and participation on picket lines a constant reminder that ending racism is white people’s business too.

Anne Braden was never famous and did not want to be.

But her life offers a critically important counter-example for whites in the Trump era if we choose to pay attention.

Braden believed that only what she called an anti-racist majority would make ours the great country she always believed it could be — not “again” but for the first time, truly great. To build that majority requires not just feelings of guilt or shame on the part of whites but concrete actions in response to specific manifestations of racial injustice.

Those manifestations are all around us if we choose to see them.

Most of all, Braden loved Louisville and believed it could shine. If she were alive today, I feel sure she would be writing and organizing daily for justice for Breonna Taylor and her family and for the other Black lives uselessly lost in our nation. She would encourage white participation alongside Blacks in nonviolent marches, and she would endorse the work of Louisville Showing Up for Racial Justice, which organizes white people in support of racial justice.

We can’t all be Anne Bradens. As her biographer, I know this as well as anyone. Her courage, her willingness to risk everything for justice was matched by very few in U.S. history. But each of us can take specific actions for racial justice in large or small ways — by acknowledging the depth of the wrongs done, by speaking out in our own families and communities, by supporting organizations that save Black lives, by demanding police accountability. Amid the rising tensions of recent days, we can stop thinking we have the answers and instead consider the meaning of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s words — “a riot is the language of the unheard.”

Braden’s life nudges each of us white Louisvillians not just to feel ashamed or sad but to act. No white person can be neutral on this question, she always said. In the face of such dramatic and persisting wrongs, let’s not fool ourselves into thinking we can. •

Anne Braden with Ella Baker (right) and Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth in background, circa early 1960s.

PHOTO COURTESY OF HIGHLANDER CENTER

Anne Braden out door-knocking on West Broadway with others to oppose city-county merger, circa 2000. | PHOTO COURTESY OF UOL ANNE BRADEN INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE RESEARCH.

Anne Braden greets scholar-activist Cornel West at an anti-war March in Washington, D.C., fall 2005.

Catherine Fosl, PhD, is director of the Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research and professor of Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies at UofL. LEOWEEKLY.COM //JUNE 4, 2020

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WEST OF NINTH @WESTOFNINTHLOUISVILLE PEOPLE, IN THEIR OWN WORDS...

By Walt and Marshae Smith | leo@leoweekly.com LOUISVILLE POLICE and National Guard were called to disperse a group of people at 26th Street and Broadway early Monday. This was not near the protests downtown. It seemed the group’s only crime was breaking the 9 p.m. curfew. Police claim they were fired upon before returning about 18 shots, and now they claim they have videotape that shows the shooter was David McAtee.

McAtee, 53, was killed where he ran his business, YaYa’s BBQ. He was featured in February 2018 by West of Ninth, a photo blog from Walt and Marshae Smith. This photo and the following interview were conducted at his business at 26th Street and Broadway: “I’ve been doing this for about 30 years, but I’ve been here for two. This location is the one of the busiest locations in West Louisville. I always wanted to be in this spot, and when the opportunity came, I took it. If I go, somebody else will snatch it. I’ve already built my clientele, and I’m not trying to give up my clientele. I’m here for a reason. Eventually, I’m going to buy this lot and build. I gotta start somewhere, and this is where I’m going to start.

It might take another year or two to get to where I’m going, but I’m going to get there.

I live in The Highlands. I moved out of the West. I actually left The West End and moved to Atlanta. I lived there for about 20 years and came back. I’ve only been back in Louisville for about eight years. I had some ups and downs. I’ve been shot and robbed since I’ve been back. I was living a crazy lifestyle, but I had to give it up. I have always been blessed with the skills to cook. I didn’t need anything else. People have to eat every single day, and all I need is my skills.” • West of Ninth began as a Louisville photography blog, westofninth.com, by two Russell residents, Walt and Shae Smith. With a love for their community, Walt and Shae see the value and potential of all nine neighborhoods that make West Louisville. Armed with a Nikon DSLR, a recorder and the ability to never meet a stranger, their goal is to shed light on the attributes that make West of Ninth the greatest.

David McAtee. | PHOTO BY WALT AND MARSHAE SMITH/WESTOFNINTH.COM

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VIEWS

LISTEN...

TAKES FROM SOCIAL MEDIA RICKY L. JONES @DrRickyLJones Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not an advocate of violence, but I will say this: America doesn’t respect peaceful protest. Just ask @Kaepernick7. You like THIS option?

Do you prefer being knocked to your knees rather than a brother peacefully taking one?

HANNAH DRAKE @HannahDrake628 Perhaps listen to Black people. WE KNEW y’all would kill one if us. Don’t ask me why the city burns. It burns because of your incompetence. It burns because you don’t heed warnings. It burns because you don’t listen.

This is at your door.

QUINTEZ BROWN @quintez_brown We want justice for Breonna Taylor, but justice isn’t enough. Now is the time to divest from inefficient and deadly police infrastructure and invest in community control and health programs.

CHRIS KOLB @cmkolb @louisvillemayor must resign. He kept Conrad even though his officers raped kids, LMPD racially profiles, LMPD drained budget for overtime while pools and libraries closed, & LMPD killed Taylor while she slept.

He then called in the Guard who invaded West Lou and killed someone.

LOUISVILLE DSA @dsa_louisville It’s time to have a conversation about defunding police in Louisville. One step is to have our schools, workplaces, and organizations to divest from LMPD. @uofl should meet these demands.

RICKY L. JONES @DrRickyLJones It is difficult for the overlords of a country founded upon and rooted in violence to claim the moral authority to call for peaceful responses to the violence they impose on others. It is a fundamental contradiction that is becoming increasingly untenable.

SAM MARCOSSON on Facebook: Here’s a first step that the City of Louisville could take right now to show that it is willing to be held accountable for the actions of its employees (especially police): Waive qualified immunity. Period. Just announce that the City will not assert it in any case involving alleged violations of civil rights. More than any other legal doctrine, qualified immunity allows governments to avoid

being held responsible, since the plaintiffs have to show that the law they alleged was violated had been “clearly established” by an on-point Supreme Court case.

But a defendant city doesn’t *have* to assert it. It can tell the trial court that if its employee’s actions violated civil rights, clearly established or not, it will be held liable. Defend on the merits, rather than hiding behind a shield that prevents the truth from being decided in a court of law.

BRANDON COAN @CMBrandonCoan If @louisvillemayor won’t fire the officers who killed Breonna Taylor, then I am begging them: JUST RESIGN. Do it for Breonna and Kenneth Walker and their families.

Do it for our city. And do it for your own souls.

BILL HOLLANDER @BillHollander Many constituents have similar concerns. We can’t tell people to protest peacefully and, after the fact, say we can gas you anytime if you don’t have a permit. The public deserves an investigation & report-from an independent oversight system it can trust.

LOUISVILLE URBAN LEAGUE @LouisvilleUL “This is about white people not wanting to hear us and never wanting to feel our pain. You can’t continue to push that down and not expect that to boil over.” —@ SadiqaReynolds JECOREY ARTHUR @jecoreyarthur David “Yaya” McAtee was assassinated by the LMPD and National Guard last night in the West End of Louisville, KY. They are currently occupying my neighborhood. I am out here in a bulletproof vest. Please tell every media outlet to send the choppers.

ATTICA SCOTT @atticascott4ky Someone was shot by police last night in the west end of District 41 because they violated curfew. I’m sick to my stomach, literally, of all the lies. We had bombs in milk jugs. We had bleach in leaf blowers. We were warned to disperse. I don’t get to mourn, though, because...

LOUISVILLE URBAN LEAGUE @LouisvilleUL When you wake up to this news, you will be filled with emotion. I get it. I am too. But, let’s commit to staying alive to get justice for Breonna and ourselves. We can’t kill ourselves in our attempt to cope with this pain. Our city is not safe for anyone right now.

WALT SMITH, on Facebook: They’ve been using “Rubber bullets” downtown all weekend!!! The moment they attempt to clear out a crowd in the west, they’re attempting to kill. Not ONE protest took place in our neighborhood!! If you know how we operate here, then you know, people aren’t thinking about a curfew if Dino’s is open!! Why the hell was Dino’s open??? Why didn’t they take a procedure of speaking with the business owner to have it shut down before chasing people and gunning at them? The people have spoken.

HANNAH DRAKE @HannahDrake628 Y’all MUST understand this. This is statement is bullshit.

Where the protests took place NOWHERE NEAR THIS AREA! NOWHERE! This is a predominantly Black area once you cross 9th street. THE NATIONAL GUARD HAD NO BUSINESS IN THIS AREA! They had to GO THERE SPECIFICALLY! HANNAH DRAKE on Facebook Before they try to sully #DavidMcAtee’s name here is his story. He was a working man trying to make a living and they killed him over a curfew. Make it make sense.

JULIE GROSS on Facebook I watched the released surveillance video of the shooting of David McAtee in Louisville. As heartbreaking as it is to watch, this is what I’ve concluded: — He loves his community and they love him. Look at all the people congregated there and look at all those BBQ smokers.

— He was working his smokers on this night, not plotting to take anyone down.

— He was a business owner that provided what people love most- food. A chef by trade nourishes.

— WAVE3 News reported he was protecting his niece from gunfire. Wouldn’t you do the same for those you love?

— I love the hug he gave to another man in his kitchen and I’m struck by the fact that that was his last embrace.

— His mother Odessa said this is her SECOND child who has died [this year]. As a mother, I cannot imagine the overwhelming grief.

— He IS NOT a criminal, so Mayor Fischer and LMPD stop trying to make up stories to justify the wrong you’ve done.

I am so sad for the Louisville community. The injustice that CONTINUES to happen.

Rest in Divine peace David McAtee. •

LEOWEEKLY.COM //JUNE 4, 2020

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RIVER CITY BANANA REPUBLIC: CHIEFS OUSTER AN OPPORTUNITY TO RECLAIM THE LMPD

By Kurt X. Metzmeier | leo@leoweekly.com THIS PAST WEEK’S street protests and the “retirement” and then firing of Louisville police Chief Steve Conrad, in the wake of the killing of Breonna Walker, have highlighted ominous trends in policing in America.

Weeks of stories about the dysfunction of the department have only confirmed the impression.

Yet, it does bring a ray of hope.

We can use this moment to reform the increasingly feral LMPD before it degenerates further into the type of predatory police force seen in 20th-century Latin American dictatorships and failed states.

While Conrad had survived many scandals, including other police-involved shootings and the Explorer Scout child sexual abuse scandal, it was finally clear that the LMPD was out of control. Conrad had proved himself powerless to curtail the “culture of impunity” of rank-and-file police officers.

Breaking rules, stealing overtime, abusing the citizenry, withholding the whole truth — the LMPD has descended into near lawlessness. And, in its treatment of elected officials as well as its support of rightist political causes, such as Blue Lives Matter, the police have become overly politicized.

As someone who has studied world history, I have been alarmed by these developments. While some commentators of our times look to parallels in 1930s Europe, my thoughts are drawn closer to home, not to Germany but Guatemala.

Highly politicized police forces operating with impunity are familiar to scholars of policing in other societies, especially those in 20th century Latin America and Central America. And the U.S. has a deep connection to them, having “trained” them since 1898 when the NYPD helped establish the Havana police in occupied Cuba.

U.S. police liaisons were soon after established throughout the hemisphere, often in conjunction with U.S. supported regimes.

Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Panama and Nicaragua saw both police-training and gunboat diplomacy starting in 1915.

By the Cold War, U.S. advisers were distorting legal systems. In a 1987 article, Martha K. Huggins describes how a Venezuelan law requiring the arrest of a police officer for killing a suspect was changed in 1964 under U.S. pressure. “Under Ameri-

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presidential nominee, called for a federal can tutelage, a police officer that killed a investigation. ‘terrorist’ would be examined in one day” Moreover, the collapse of the case by a review board and “quickly restored to against Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker duty.” Sound familiar? and the focus of the warrant led to allegaCongress in 1974 eliminated formal training after human rights abuses by police tions that the police had lied throughout the process. came to light, but the CIA continued its When Metro Councilwoman Jessica contacts, even as police death squads were Green described Walker’s actions as a revealed. And, soon, training was restored lawful assertion of his rights under the under the aegis of the drug war.

Second Amendment and Kentucky’s statuTypically, the impunity culture in tory castle law, the police officers’ union these police agencies arose as oligarchic president Ryan Nichols, who is white, democracies destabilized when the elites angrily chastised her and demanded that the couldn’t hold together the clubby consenAfrican American elected official apolosus that such systems require, and when gize to the police. governments were (Nichols also trampled threatened by insurAnd when the on Walker’s constigencies. Police forces, tutional presumption designed to keep citizens of The of innocence, but the poor and indigenous West End endure FOP has never been a communities in check, fan of the Bill of began to choose sides entirely different big Rights). and politicize, evolvAnd this was not ing into independent police treatment the only LMPD scanpolitical forces–typically, right-wing ones. than citizens of The dal in the news.

A lawsuit claimed As they did so, East End, we are that police had they moved beyond brutalizing minorities perpetuating white manhandled a local attorney during a trafand leftists, to attacksupremacy. fic stop. As 17 police ing their perceived officers watched, two opponents among of LMPD’s finest allegedly pushed Douglas the elites. Soon, they were courted by Miller to the ground and beat him “with like-minded politicians who desired their closed fists.” ability to employ violence against political Even though the lawyer was white, the opponents, often extralegal acts through case evoked numerous stories of police secret organizations whose tactics could officers harassing African Americans range from menacing critics to assassinatduring police stops —including one of the ing political rivals. city’s most prominent religious figures, the Hold on! Am I calling the LMPD a Rev. Dr. Kevin W. Cosby, the pastor of St. death-squad? Absolutely not.

Stephen Church and the president of Sim(Please don’t disappear me, the author mons College. jokes nervously to himself).

But that’s not all.

I’m merely describing green shoots of Reports arose that an officer of the a poisonous plant that we must weed while Audubon police department had been drivwe have time. ing around with a bumper sticker supportThink of what has happened in the last ing the white supremacist Three Percenters. few weeks.

(This is the group that lynched an effigy of A botched raid to serve a questionable Gov. Andy Beshear in a tree on Memorial warrant based on half-truths and untruths Day weekend outside of the Governor’s led to the police-involved killing of an Mansion). After first explaining it as a misinnocent ER tech, Breonna Taylor. take, the chief later admitted that the officer The case gained national attention and other members of the tiny suburban when civil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump police force were “3%ers.” was hired by Taylor’s family, and when This led Courier-Journal columnist Joe U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, a possible vice

Gerth to wonder how many local officers also belong to the odious group.

Enough is enough.

The culture of impunity fostered under Conrad’s hapless regime has raised a hundred red flags and sounded a chorus of alarm bells.

Louisville needs to decide whether it wants to change that course as it chooses a new police chief.

We should be able to have a say in how we are policed.

Every police tactic and action should be subject to public scrutiny. We should never be at the mercy of police politicians and union leaders.

We need to understand that police actions are political actions.

Our political actions.

When a judge grants a no-knock warrant, we are making a political statement that the privacy rights of citizens are granted only until a police informer says otherwise.

When police beat up a lawyer because he challenges them during a roadside stop, we are saying that the rights of a citizen are inferior to the whims of a police officer.

And when the citizens of The West End endure entirely different police treatment than citizens of The East End, we are perpetuating white supremacy.

A popular slogan says: “abolish the police.” Assuming we are still a free people, we should never dismiss this idea entirely.

Certainly, there are functions that police serve that would need to be undertaken by new institutions. But the agency that enforces traffic violations need not be the same one that investigates crimes. A democracy should be able to redesign all functions of government.

If we accept that the existing politicized police force that yells down the people’s representatives and flies its own flag is unchangeable, we are no longer a free people. • Kurt X. Metzmeier, is the author of “Writing the Legal Record: Law Reporters in Nineteenth-Century Kentucky” (University Press of Kentucky, 2016). Although he is a law librarian at the UofL, the opinions in this article are his own and do not represent those of the university or any of its institutions.

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NAPOMO BONUS #24 To the White Women Who Formed a Line Between Black Protestors and Police Thanks, but you owed us that.

Almost every slave ship captain, Confederate officer, Grand Cyclops, Tulsa rioter, lynch mobber, redliner, biased judge, and killer cop started out as your baby boy.

Almost anything good about men is often a credit to their mother.

Maybe you lost the battle for their souls to their fathers who used your neck to sharpen their canine and bicuspids.

Maybe their empire building, hunger for wealth and power, appetite for violence, and need to keep their boot on somebody’s neck is some misguided effort to gain your approval or your affection.

Maybe there was just something bitter in the milk?

If you could smell their colicky breaths again, would you hug them to death? • — Frank X Walker

Frank X Walker is a Poet Laureate of Kentucky and a founding member of the Affrilachian Poets, having divined the word “Affrilachia,” underscoring the presence of African Americans in Appalachia.

Frank X Walker | PHOTO BY PATRICK J. MITCHELL. LEOWEEKLY.COM //JUNE 4, 2020

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NEWS & ANALYSIS

THORNS & ROSES

THE LOUISVILLE PROTESTS

DAYS AND NIGHTS OF UNREST

By Danielle Grady | dgrady@leoweekly.com AFTER the first night of protests in Louisville, the remaining actions became a push and pull between demonstrators and police. Law enforcement would respond to an increasingly impassioned crowd with extra force and then back down after receiving backlash.

On Friday, vastly peaceful protests devolved into vandalism and looting in the early morning. Before that point, protesters begged the public to pay attention to their cause, not property destruction.

On Saturday, the mayor responded with the National Guard and a 9 p.m. curfew. Police took aggressive action against peaceful protesters, who opposed the new measures, bombing them with tear gas well before 9.

And, on Monday, after a beloved community business owner, David McAtee, died as police and the National Guard shot at him, law enforcement and the city tried once again to be conciliatory with grieving protesters. Now, they say a video shows him shooting first, but it is not conclusive.

FRIDAY:

Protesters at Friday night’s demonstrations said they didn’t want vandalism to be the headline. The next day, it was.

“The issue is white supremacy, racism, police abuse, mass incarceration. Those are the issues,” said Sonja de Vries, a longtime activist who attended the protest. “And we can’t let them sidetrack us into talking about how people should protest. And you know what, the people in power don’t get to decide how people can protest.”

Of course, as in any political or social movement, there is not always consensus, as was the case among protesters Friday who debated the value and effect of vandalism on their causes.

That division was evident when demonstrators lowered the Louisville, Kentucky and American flags from poles in front of Metro Hall and set them on fire to chants of “burn them all!”

One nearby protester shook with excitement.

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THE WORST, BEST & MOST ABSURD THORN: NO SOLDIERS IN THE WEST END

Send soldiers, weekend soldiers at that, into The West End to break up a parking lot party? What could go wrong? Someone was killed — David McAtee, a beloved, neighborhood barbecue seller. Cops now claim a video shows him shooting. It may be he had a gun and he may have even shot first, but that does not excuse Mayor Greg Fischer’s police force and Gov. Andy Beshear’s National Guard from leaving actual protests downtown (against police brutality) to march into The West End and disperse, what? A curfew-breaking, parking lot party? Downtown, shots are answered with tear gas. In The West End? Live ammo.

THORN: REWARDS FOR PISS-POOR JOB The protests brought out people of many ages. Here, a high-five on Friday.

“Fuck this country,” she said with a giggle. “That was my brother that brought this flag down. That was the symbolism that all the fucking oppression they have is coming the fuck down.”

Less than 6 feet away, another protester shook her head at the scene.

“I don’t give a shit about a flag.

What I give a shit about is people want to be aggressive, and there’s not really a need to be it,” she said. “I don’t think it’s really fair. I feel like last night was a lot more powerful and passionate.

Tonight, it’s just about people trying to cause a problem.”

Most of the people whom LEO spoke to said they were there to peacefully protest. But, they empathized with those who were doing the destructing.

“I think it’s a deep sense of injustice, a deep sense of alienation, and also not being the owners of anything, including people’s own bodies,” said de Vries. “The idea that someone could be asleep in their bed and have the police break down their door and destroy them. It’s as if they don’t even own their own body.”

Another protester, Lew Winstead, said, “I’m not about violence in any way, shape or form or rioting, but when you’re being oppressed for so long, you have to do something to be heard...

This is what happens when you’re killing black people unjustly in broad day-

PHOTO BY KATHRYN HARRINGTON.

light in front of people on the street, in their bed, while they’re sleeping... Is it justified? That is debatable. I can’t tell other people how to react to injustice, you know what I mean. I can only react my way because it’s me. What other people are going through, what other people see, how they feel, that is them.

And how they react to that is how they react to that.”

And a few said that the property being destroyed could easily be taken care of.

“I mean, let’s be honest, properties have insurance claims for damages, so the properties are not going to suffer that much, realistically, with insurance companies doing what they do,” said Andre Locker, 44.

Some of Louisville’s protesters were unsure Friday whether extreme protests could help achieve their goals.

Tiffany Hines said that conducting a peaceful protest is important because it would prevent detractors from diminishing protesters’ concerns.

“You have to have peace so you can be heard,” she said, “because if not, the president will tweet dumb things like he did, instead of looking at the real issue.”

Still, she wishes that the public would focus on police brutality over vandalism.

On Saturday morning, after the protests, Fischer said that the protesters’

Despite his glaring, fatal ineptitude and the loss of confidence from everyone in the city but Fischer, police Chief Steve Conrad was going to be allowed to retire at the end of June. But the pressure became even too much for Fischer as police began using unreasonable force on protesters — and then shot and killed someone (David McAtee) without body cameras on or in use.

So, Fischer finally fired Conrad, several years too late.

Guess what? The ex chief can still collect on his accumulated time off, and his pension will not be affected by the firing, WDRB reported.

THORN: PUTTING THE FRAT IN FOP

Whoever tweets for the River City FOP, or fraternal order of police, the cop’s union, must be a ‘roided-up brah, as some on force seem to be, if their actions during protests are any measure. Here is how the FOP reacted to Fischer’s announcement that he wants an independent review of the LMPD: “Maybe @louisvillemayor should put out an RFP to review his corrupt administration that cares about NO ONE in the city. @ louisvillemayor may pretend to be compassionate, but he’s allowing good people of all races and neighborhoods to be victimized by violent criminals.“

ABSURD: HOLD MY TEAR GAS, CORONAVIRUS Coronavirus anyone? Is that still a thing? Certainly, there has been no social distancing at the protests.

Masks did more than obscure identities. And maybe tear gas wards off infections. Guess we will see in two weeks. That is when a plague of locusts is due.

ROSE: WE WILL MISS YOU, CHEF

Kathy Cary, chef and owner at Lilly’s Bistro on Bardstown Road, is retiring. She is the Godmother of Fine Dining in Louisville. It may be hyperbolic to say, but without her, Louisvillians might still think rolled oysters are haute cuisine. Happy travels, Kathy.

NEWS & ANALYSIS

goals would not be achieved by damaging property, which escalated on Friday from vandalism to looted stores.

“Violence does not bring our city closer to the truth in her case,” he said. “No one stands up for justice and equality by smashing windows and burning property. This destruction will not be tolerated.”

But, after Thursday’s protest, even though vandalism occurred, Fischer announced that no-knock warrants would be temporarily suspended in Louisville, one of the protesters’ demands.

De Vries said, “Change has always happened because people did get out in the streets as one of the strategies.

Because people in power have never just decided out of the goodness of their hearts that they’re going to make those changes. It’s always come about because of grassroots movements, pressuring on many levels.”

Later, during Friday’s protests, walls were graffitied and windows were smashed. Looting took place as well. The next day, Fischer and Gov. Andy Beshear condemned the destruction, using it to justify deploying the National Guard.

“The demonstrations in Louisville have all started peacefully, but what we have seen, especially last night, and what our intelligence says is going to happen are outside groups moving in, trying to create violence to harm everybody who is on those streets. We cannot let Breonna’s legacy be marred by violence, and we can’t let our streets turn violent,” Beshear said.

SATURDAY:

Less than an hour and a half before curfew on Saturday night, a Louisville protester was skeptical of the new rule.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Is he [the officer who shot Breonna Taylor] going to get indicted at 9 fucking o’clock

tonight?”

The protesters who showed up on Saturday opposed the new curfew and the National Guard, but the city’s more aggressive tactics seemed to deter and scatter demonstrators.

“I think being so quick to suppress the protest and the anger is sending the wrong message,” said Rebecca Hall, 35.

“We’re supposed to just accept that change is going to come.

And you know, I think, you can mobilize to protect property so quickly, why can’t you mobilize that quickly to protect Black and brown lives?”

Protesters also responded to claims from the mayor that most of the demonstrators who committed acts of vandalism on Friday night were from out of town.

“All the people that were smashing windows, and I have a feeling, looting all shit last night, I feel like a lot of them were from out of town,” said one person downtown who didn’t give his name but said he lived in the Hikes Point neighborhood.

He was not at Friday night’s protests, he said, but he thought that the demonstrators in The Highlands must have been locals because they did not vandalize the Bardstown Road businesses and “everybody here loves The Highlands.”

Hall, who is also from Hikes Point, said she didn’t know whether there were out-of-town protesters, but she pointed out that mayors across the country were saying the same thing as Fischer.

“Even if there are people here that are joining others to protest, I don’t understand why that’s an issue or why that’s even being brought up,” she said. “I feel like rather than accept that there is this many people in the city angry about what’s happening they want to make it seem like this isn’t us that’s angry and this is why this is happening.”

Louisville police started hitting peaceful protesters with tear gas at least an hour and a half before curfew. They also

Police officers gradually made their way down Bardstown Road on Saturday as protests continued for the third day. | PHOTO BY KATHRYN HARRINGTON.

appeared to be pushing demonstrators to leave by constantly advancing on them. Some protesters went to The Highlands instead to protest. Others took to their cars. There were seemingly fewer on the streets than Friday night, and there was less vandalism.

Sonya Burton, 43, who traveled from the Fort Knox area to protest, said she thought the mayor’s idea was a good one, in theory, to prevent evening riots.

“But we’ve been here and we’ve been peaceful, and they haven’t been any kinder,” she said. “I mean, they started beating on their shields, and they stole the water, they stole the milk.”

While the sun was still up, two plainclothes police officers destroyed milk and water that protesters had been using to calm the effects of tear gas. Fischer later said that the supplies contained materials that would have been harmful to other protesters, including mason jars with flammable materials.

MONDAY:

The aggressive tactics from Louisville police and the National Guard continued Sunday, ending in the death of a local business owner, David McAtee.

Louisville’s new, interim-police Chief Robert Schroeder said that, after midnight on Monday, the police and the National Guard were called to 26th Street and Broadway to disperse a crowd at the nearby Dino’s Food Mart, which had gathered after curfew. At that point, the officers and Guard had mostly cleared downtown, and the group at Dino’s was the “last large crowd” remaining, said LMPD Major Paul Humphrey. At the gas station, officers used pepper balls to scatter the crowd.

Several West End community members told LEO that people often hang out at Dino’s, so this late-Sunday night crowd was not unusual.

In a press conference Tuesday Schroeder alleged that, based on security camera footage, McAtee fired at officers first, and they and the National Guard returned fire, killing McAtee. McAtee owned a barbecue business at 26th Street and Broadway, and he was working that Monday morning.

In the footage provided, it was not clear if McAtee actually fired, and if he did, was he first?

Humphrey said that, without audio and without interviewing the officers involved, the department has yet to determine the specifics of how the incident unfolded.

Officers are allowed to obtain legal counsel before being interviewed. The Kentucky State Police, the LMPD Public Integrity Unit and the National Guard are all investigating the incident.

On Monday, Schroeder said that the officers involved were not using body cameras at the time. Mayor Greg Fischer fired Chief Steve Conrad as a result.

On Monday morning, a crowd of West End residents had formed at 26th and Broadway.

“I’m down here because that could have been me,” said Jerron Thomas, a Kentucky State University student and West Louisville resident who was on the scene.

Several people at 26th Street and Broadway Monday said that McAtee was a familiar sight to many in the community.

“I come here a lot, and I eat food. And he was a nice gentleman, never threatening, aggressive, anything,” said Joshua Smith. “Like, he sold food to the neighborhood. So, LEOWEEKLY.COM //JUNE 4, 2020

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NEWS & ANALYSIS

Protesters gathered at Sixth and Jefferson streets calling attention to the death of David McAtee who was killed when law enforcement fired shots at 26th Street and Broadway early Monday.

PHOTO BY KATHRYN HARRINGTON.

for him to get, wrong place, wrong time by shot by police, and they’ve been exonerthe police, that’s like, why?” ated,” he said. “We just have to get this resolved and get the policies in place that The crowd questioned why officers had let the civilians know that we are serious, come to break up a gathering in The West and they are serious together with us about End that was far from the protests. And they making sure that we are treated in a equidemanded to know why McAtee’s body was table fashion.” still at there 11 hours after he had been shot.

The police The crowd gathered at the stood across Before the city blamed scene reassured the street from the crowd that Dino’s, facing McAtee for firing at they were only a line of police officers first, both the there to finish officers who were guarding the their investigation mayor and Schroeder scene. They occaof the shooting, sionally pushed and they would expressed sympathy out into the road soon leave. After over McAtee’s death. but organizers the small group with megaphones of officers in riot McAtee used to hand guided them back, gear left around saying, “Do not 3 p.m., the crowd out free food to law cross the shooting cheered. enforcement. line.”

Before the city The organizers blamed McAtee for firing at officers first, both the mayor paced in front of the crowd, preaching their and Schroeder expressed sympathy over grievances to a receptive audience.

McAtee’s death.

“They treat [n-word]s like dogs,” said one Black man in response.

McAtee used to hand out free food to law “No, they don’t,” replied one woman. enforcement.

“We had a horrible tragedy last night at “They treat dogs better than us.”

26th and Broadway,” said Fischer. “We lost Frank Smith, the president of the Intera wonderful citizen named David McAtee. denominational Ministerial Coalition, who David was a friend to many, well known, a stood at the front of the group, told LEO barbecue man that nurtured so many people that he came to 26th Street and Broadway to in their bellies, in their hearts. And for him learn more about what happened to McAtee. to be caught up in this and for him to not be He was not surprised by the mood of the with us today is a tragedy.” crowd he found there.

On Tuesday, Beshear said he’d be “This is indicative of years of neglect, reducing the National Guard’s presence in years of unjust acts, years of mistrust given Louisville. • that there have been people who have been

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NEWS & ANALYSIS

THURSDAY’S PROTESTS:

DEMANDS FOR JUSTICE FOR BREONNA TAYLOR MET WITH TEAR GAS, PEPPER BALLS AND SMOKE GRENADES

By Heidi Taylor | leo@leoweekly.com Near Sixth And Jefferson Streets: IF THERE WERE an accurate zeitgeist of Thursday evening’s street protest, it would be the stark contrast between the police, equipped with helmets and body armor and face shields and batons, gearing up for a night of ultraviolence as thick as the humidity and the peaceful protesters they were charged with dispersing. From beneath the lights of helicopters circling in the sky, this was their time to remind the protesters who actually runs Amerika, collectively fantasizing at the potential of the valiant lies of collective bravery and survival they could tell their future grandchildren.

The roughly 500 protesters — though it appeared to be closer to 1,000 — who had gathered in the radius of Sixth and Jefferson streets were seeking justice for Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and the countless other Black folks murdered by law enforcement. They gathered, peacefully at first, in the streets and just about anywhere else they could position themselves while offering prayers and chants of No Justice! No Peace! Many held bottles of water and gallons of milk in expectation of tear gassing and pepper spraying that would inevitably take place.

The smell of spray paint hung in the night air, a signal of the silent dissent painted on any surface that the protesters could hit.

One moment that should not be lost from the evening before Hell was unleashed from canisters was when the hand of King Louis XVI in front of Louisville Metro Hall was loosened from the statue as if he heard there was to be cake on the menu that evening.

Standing next to King Louis on the pedestal was a second king who was dressed in UofL basketball shorts and a mask and who was giving an impassioned speech while holding on to Louis’ hand for support.

As he spoke, “No justice, no peace! Justice for Breonna!” came the crowd’s echo to his words, with great oratorical flex.

Then, suddenly, and without warning, the hand gave way.

One king’s body and the other king’s hand fell to the ground with two solid thumps, one meaty, one marble.

The gathered mass gasped appropriately, and then there was silence, their fear of injury palpable as the phalanx of riot police readied itself for the chance to press into the crowd and then shift the blame. But when the king in his shorts and mask stood, he hoisted Louis’ hand high above his head, and the gathered protesters laughed and cheered while passing it around like a cosmic beach ball at a festival.

One protester who preferred to remain unnamed relayed the moment he saw the hand disembodied from the deposed king. “I rolled,” he said with a sparkle in his eye. “I just couldn’t help but lose my shit.”

He also noted, holding his heavy-duty protective mask away from his face, “The cops put their eyes on me as soon as they saw me.”

He smiled and continued: “The trick is to let them know

that you’re not afraid of them.

If you’re not afraid, they don’t have any power. That’s what was happening out there tonight.”

His theory was soon tested.

The cops in riot gear shuffled from one hoof to the other and snorted in anticipation, waiting for an excuse that could be passed off as a justification for violence when the first water bottle took flight toward them from the crowd.

“Don’t throw bottles,” the protesters roared in response, knowing such action was just enough of a tipping point for police in a land where violence is always coupled with protest.

Then, a few action-oriented members of the gathered began to rock a police van in defiance.

Yet, this attempt to flip the van and the thrown water bottles were not seen as the excuses the cops were looking for.

This was the point when gunfire erupted, which resulted in seven injured. Police and Mayor Greg Fischer deny that the police fired their weapons but that the shots were from within the crowd. Said Fischer during a briefing Friday morning: “These shots came from within the crowd, not from police officers. No officers fired their weapons. If you hear anything to the contrary, that is not factual.”

Regardless, this was the moment that the wave of violence broke and rolled over the crowd, tear gas, smoke grenades and pepper pellets. A beer bottle or two made like doves in search of dry land. Chants of empowerment and justice turned to screams and running, running, running away into the night, blue lights left spinning in the aftermath, casting a shadow on all that it could touch.

Passing calls of “Stay safe!” echoed between directions to “Run, Run!” while bathed in the cloud of gas that swirled, punctuated with pops of gunfire.

I had an exchange of “stay safe” with a protester named Maria, while standing on the edge of Armageddon at Sixth Street. She was on the phone with her mother and stated “I’ve been here for two hours,” between pauses of her mother in her ear. Her eyes darted back and forth, desper-

Illustration © 2020 by R. Crumb.

ately searching, assuring her mother that she would leave as soon as she found her friend.

“Stay safe,” I told her, eyes and lungs burning as a stark reminder that justice and peace are nowhere to be seen on the darkened horizon.

Then, the skies opened and brought the rain that the humidity signaled was on its way for hours, causing the crowd to disperse.

This was not the end of the discussion, only a pause in the aftermath of the rains the Almighty brought as a means of baptizing the saints with burning lungs and washing the sins of the evening from the starless sky. • Heidi Taylor is a newly-minted graduate of the Spalding Skool of Professional and Creative Writing. #JusticeForBreonna #JusticeForGeorge #ByAnyMeansNecessary LEOWEEKLY.COM //JUNE 4, 2020

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NEWS & ANALYSIS

SUNDAY’S PROTESTS:

FROM PEACEFUL TO TRAGEDY IN ONE DAY

By Scott Recker | srecker@leoweekly.com FORTY MINUTES before the 9 p.m. curfew Sunday, police dispensed tear gas, dispersing a crowd of hundreds in Jefferson Square Park downtown. Early Monday morning, the LMPD and the National Guard moved in to clear a group of people from a parking lot at 26th Street and Broadway, more than 20 blocks from where the protests initially occurred. They claim someone fired a shot, so they returned fire. David McAtee, owner of YaYa’s BBQ was killed — someone known commonly for giving local police free food.

On Tuesday, police released a video from surveillance cameras that they say showed McAtee firing a gun outside of his business, but the footage is unclear, as it partially loses sight of him as he exits his restaurant. Police had their body cameras turned off, so an angle from the officers isn’t available.

Earlier, Sunday didn’t seem like it was spiraling toward tragedy, as the fourth day of protests was tense but largely peaceful, with waves of people downtown who seemed local, nonaggressive and focused only on protesting Breonna Taylor’s death and other instances of police violence. Firing tear gas at a calm crowd or letting the military loose in The West End in no way seems like a reasonable reaction to what we witnessed yesterday.

And now a beloved member of the community is dead.

LEO followed the protesters for several hours. Here is an approximated timeline of what we experienced.

on Main Street. Most of the group stuck together and kept moving, but about 20 people turned to face the police. Each time the police got near them, the protesters eventually moved back. A member of the police department was on a bullhorn, calling the situation an unlawful gathering and saying that if people didn’t disperse, they would release chemical agents. By the time the police reached Sixth Street, most of the crowd already had continued to the Muhammad Ali Center. A small group stayed at Sixth and Main streets, but at that point there were more members of the police and the National Guard than there were protesters. It eventually deescalated.

3:30 p.m. — Black Lives Matter Louisville held a healing ceremony in front of the KFC Yum Center. Speakers included Democratic state Rep. Charles Booker, who is also running to unseat Sen. Mitch McConnell; ACLU organizer Keturah Herron; and Jecorey Arthur, who is running for Metro Council District 4.

“We want peace,” Booker said. “We’re standing because we deserve peace. This is about our humanity. No matter how the sun has kissed your skin, you know if someone hurts your Black brother or sister, it hurts you too.”

Booker went on talk about how structural racism has endangered people of color.

“You may be seen as a deadly weapon, before being seen as a human being,” he said. “It ain’t right. And it’s hurting all of us.”

After the speakers finished, the vast majority of the crowd left, many of them walking east toward cars parked in the Nulu area.

7 p.m. — Back at Jefferson Square, there were only a few protesters, but the park was covered in police officers and National Guard members.

4 p.m. — We walked through Fourth Street Live. Every window was boarded up with the exception of those at the Fifth Third Bank, which I assume invests in the strongest windows money can buy. Only a few other people were there checking out the damage, most of which was cleaned up. It was almost silent, extremely strange and felt like walking through a ghost town.

4:30 p.m. — Two groups formed at Jefferson Square Park.

One appeared to be a church group and was holding a small service. The other group was organizing a march. Shortly thereafter, about 100 to 200 people marched east down Jefferson Street, with the LMPD and the National Guard following behind. The group took a left on Second Street and another left

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A protester Sunday downtown. | PHOTOS BY NIK VECHERY.

5:30 p.m. — Speeches were delivered in the amphitheater outside of the Muhammad Ali Center.

People sat calmly, cheered and handed out water to each other. The police didn’t follow them, instead moving back to Jefferson Square Park. The tension evaporated. Moments like this tend to understandably get buried or untold, because there are more critical and tragic elements to report and discuss, but this was a powerful part of the day from a gentle group of people, who were clearly there to pursue justice, not to create any sort of violence.

A speech being delivered at the Muhammad Ali Center.

7:30 p.m. — A large group of protesters marched down Liberty Street, stopping at the park.

They formed a few lines, one facing the police and one that went across Liberty, facing east. The crowd mostly just chanted, remaining peaceful. A police drone hovered above the crowd.

8 p.m. — A few members of the crowd told people to consider going home, especially if they were with children, and a couple hundred people left, walking down Sixth toward Broadway. The people who stayed remained collected. I walked through the entire crowd, and there didn’t seem to be groups of people trying to ignite any sort of violence. Most people appeared to be with a significant other or a small group of friends. If anything, for at least a moment, it seemed to be possibly winding down.

8:20 p.m. — Tear gas was released. When asked why the police released tear gas before the curfew, police Col. LaVita Chavous, assistant chief of the police, said at a 10:45 p.m. media briefing that it had turned into an “unlawful gathering” because protesters were blocking the road and didn’t have a permit.

She said protesters had leaf blowers and umbrellas, which she said can be used to “blow back chemicals into the police’s

Protesters and police on Main Street.

face.”

Many questioned the decision, including Louisville Metro Council member Bill Hollander, who tweeted: “Many constituents have similar concerns. We can’t tell people to protest peacefully and, after the fact, say we can gas you anytime if you don’t have a permit. The public deserves an investigation & reportfrom an independent oversight system it can trust.” •

NEWS & ANALYSIS

LEXINGTON POLICE KNEEL, PRAY WITH PROTESTERS, LOUISVILLE POLICE KILL A MAN SELLING BARBECUE

By Keith Stone | kstone@leoweekly.com That is all fine.

WHILE LOUISVILLE Mayor Greg Fischer has pleaded for they had made no arrests in relation to the protest.”

But what Louisvillians really deserve are leaders Two cities. Two outcomes. peaceful protest, he has allowed National Guard into the Granted, Louisville and Lexington are not the same in who would not allow the police to overreact and would city and tacitly endorsed baton-wielding, tear gas-thrownot allow armed weekend soldiers to march on civilians many ways. ing, armored cops. (think: Kent State).

How police conduct themselves should not be one of For more than four days and nights, we have seen Lexington got it right. • them. shoving, gassing, corralling and arresting of people who What is so ingrained in the Louare protesting the police brutality isville Metro Police Department against Black people that led to the that it felt it could use overwhelmshooting death of 26-year-old Breing force to beat back protests onna Taylor in her home in March. against overwhelming force by Someone marching on the streets police. was going to get shot.

Don’t they see the irony?

Instead, it was a man who sells They cannot abide by even their barbecue. own rules.

On Monday morning, police and Since the first protest last Thurssoldiers showed up at 26th Street day, the police and Mayor Greg and Broadway to disperse a group of Fischer have urged protesters to people who were not protesting but express themselves peacefully. rather were hanging out, listening Fischer thanked them for proto music and eating food as they did testing peacefully. routinely there.

Police Lt. Col. Lavita Chavous Their crime: They were out after curfew.

David McAtee. | PHOTO BY WALT AND MARSHAE SMITH/ tried to sound empathetic.

“Our goal will be to allow for Police say someone fired a shot at WESTOFNINTH.COM the peaceful expression of protest. We value the them, so, of course, the right thing to do was for officers right to free speech and understand this community and soldiers to shoot about 18 times toward a building has a lot to say right now. We hear you. We will not filled with people. tolerate violence that leads to people being hurt. We When the shooting ended, David McAtee, a wellknown and liked West End purveyor of barbecue, YaYa’s will not tolerate destruction of our beautiful city.

We are prepared to take whatever action we must to BBQ, was found dead. The officers’ body cameras were try to ensure no one else is injured during this time not on or present, conveniently for them. They now say of unrest,” she said. they have video that shows McAtee firing a gun, but the Yet, before the dusk-to-dawn curfew was set to video is unclear, and even the police concede it does not take place Sunday, police were deploying tear gas. answer the many questions about that night.

When asked about this, Chavous said this action In February 2018, McAtee had told West of Ninth was taken so early because the protest was an documentarians that he chose that spot on Broadway “unlawful assembly” for lack of permits. because it “is one of the busiest locations in West “We have allowed the no-street access simply Louisville.” He said he focuses on his cooking: “I have always been blessed with the skills to cook. I didn’t need to be accommodating to people and allow them to voice their opinions and views in a positive and anything else. People have to eat every single day, and peaceful way,” she said. “But I want you to know all I need is my skills.” that LMPD could have legally taken those steps Reportedly, he would give meals to officers. a lot earlier than we did. And it wasn’t until we Meanwhile, in Lexington, protesters marched Sunday became concerned for the safety of the community for the third night in a row, bringing out the largest and the safety of our officers that we declared it to crowd yet, standing face-to-face with a line of police, be an unlawful gathering.”

The Lexington Herald-Leader reported.

She talked about leaf blowers used to blow back And what did Lexington police do?

“The protesters chanted for police to kneel with them. tear gas. Problem solved: Don’t throw tear gas!

Metro Council member Bill Hollander quesAfter a number of officers kneeled, protesters moved tioned Chavous’ comments. forward to embrace them. Several protesters thanked the “We can’t tell people to protest peacefully and, officers or fist-bumped them,” the paper wrote. after the fact, say we can gas you anytime if you The Lexington protest began to break up by 10:45 don’t have a permit,” Hollander tweeted. “The p.m. Some protesters stayed and chanted at police past public deserves an investigation and report from an midnight. “But a group of protesters also prayed with On Tuesday, community members, family and friends of David ‘YaYa’ McAtee independent oversight system it can trust.”

Lexington officers. As of 1 a.m., Lexington police said came out to honor his life. | PHOTOS BY KATHRYN HARRINGTON. LEOWEEKLY.COM //JUNE 4, 2020

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NEWS & ANALYSIS

TUESDAY’S PROTESTS:

PEACEFUL WITH NO TEAR GAS, NO CONFRONTATIONS

By Scott Recker | srecker@leoweekly.com selves and the public. It certainly didn’t evaporate Louisville’s problems, but we also didn’t wake up to another tragedy on Wednesday.

Twenty people were arrested elsewhere in the city, but none were connected to the protest Tuesday was a night of perpetual motion. Around 7 p.m., a march left Jefferson Square Park, swooped down past the edge of Waterfront Park, found Broadway and returned to the Square. Around 9 p.m., at Jefferson and Sixth Street, it momentarily felt like another confrontation might happen between protesters and police, but Protesters at the corner of Eastern Parkway and Bardstown Road. | PHOTO BY SCOTT RECKER. the authorities didn’t march into the gathering, and shortly before dark, the march continued. From there, people on foot and cars TUESDAY’S PROTEST didn’t end until after midnight, moved side-by-side, traveling through Phoenix Hill, and there was no clash with the police, no tear gas The Highlands, back through Downtown and on to and no arrests. It was a night of changed tactics from The West End. Protesters and police only momentarily the authorities, as the LMPD and the National Guard crossed paths around midnight on Broadway. Protesters remained largely invisible, generally staying several chanted “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot,” and the authorities blocks from the crowd, not engaging or enforcing the let them pass. curfew. The energy was remarkably different than the Some officers and protesters fist-bumped each other. previous five nights. Without a show of force from the The march stretched on for well over 10 miles, authorities as dusk approached, the protest continued to weave through the streets, but never turned chaotic — it slowly fizzled out, until eventually ending at 26th Street and Broadway, near where David McAtee, owner of YaYa’s BBQ, was killed by law enforcement.

It seemed like a symbolic win for everyone.

The protesters were able to express their anger over what happened to McAtee and Breonna Taylor, who was killed by the LMPD after they executed a noknock warrant in March.

And the police and city leaders didn’t further the Protesters near Jefferson Square Park. | PHOTO BY SCOTT RECKER. fracture between them-

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LEOWEEKLY.COM // JUNE 4, 2020

and some people in the neighborhoods stood in their yards, fists in the air, in solidarity with the protesters. Throughout the evening more and more cars joined, picking up people on foot. By the time the caravan passed the federal courthouse on Broadway on the march to 26th Street, there were more cars than pedestrians, and it almost looked like rush hour traffic.

The more the night progressed, the more the tension seemed to ease. The past week has been littered with uncertainly, but there was a sense of calm throughout the crowd last night when it became apparent that the march was going to be able to continue well past curfew.

The biggest takeaway from Tuesday night is that nothing bad happened.

No one lost their life.

No one was pelted with rubber bullets.

No one’s eyes burned from tear gas.

There was no looting.

No vandalism.

No agitators.

No bad actors.

Instead, there were a lot of people who wanted to see change in their city and beyond. There were a lot of people who chanted “What’s Her Name? Breonna Taylor. What’s His Name? David McAtee.”

People were looking out for each other. It was a call for change and nothing else.

But, it also begs the question: Why couldn’t Sunday night have ended like this? Why was tear gas released at 8:20 p.m. downtown that night? Why did the military go into The West End that night? Tuesday was identical to Sunday during the day, and completely different at night.

Did it have to be? •

Protesters marching on Tuesday night. | PHOTO BY SCOTT RECKER.

PHOTOS

SNAPS FROM THE STREET PROTESTS #JUSTICEFORBREONNATAYLOR

A RALLY TO PROTEST the fatal shooting by police of 26-year-old ER tech Breonna Taylor in her own home brought out an estimated 500 people last Thursday — some say 1,000.

They came back the next day, and again, and again, and again... each time saying her name — Breonna Taylor — but also invoking the names of other Black people who have been brutalized or killed by law enforcement. Among them, George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black Minneapolis man who died after a white police officer kneeled on Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes.

Louisville police in riot gear were joined by shield-wielding Kentucky State Police and then the National Guard, activated by Gov. Andy Beshear. The protests started peacefully, but the first night was marred by gunfire, injuring seven people, and police deployed tear gas and pepper balls.

LEO photographer Kathryn Harrington captured these images from four days of protests.

On Thursday, the first night of the protest, the march moved through downtown Louisville.

A city vehicle was damaged, some of the vandalism that took place that night.

LEOWEEKLY.COM //JUNE 4, 2020

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PHOTOS

Protesters raised their arms to show they were peacefully protesting. The rallies, however, were marred by police deploying tear gas and shooting pepper balls, and some protesters lobbed water bottles.

LMPD wore body armor and other riot gear as they faced protesters on Thursday night.

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LEOWEEKLY.COM // JUNE 4, 2020

The night grew tenser as police and protesters as confrontations increased.

PHOTOS

The chant of “don’t shoot” could be heard through the days of protest. Shots were fired on the first night, but police say it was from within the crowd. Seven people were injured.

A protester pointed to a police helicopter at Thursday night’s protest.

The protests brought people downtown from around the city. Here, some made a human chain.

LEOWEEKLY.COM //JUNE 4, 2020

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PHOTOS VIEWS

Police officers viewed the protest from the top of the Louisville Metro Department of Corrections building.

At Friday’s protest, here was one of the more creative ways to make a point.

Protesters gathered at the entrance to the Louisville Metro Police Headquarters on Friday.

An armed protester rode in front of the crowds to halt traffic as they marched through downtown Louisville.

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PHOTOS VIEWS

Fists were raised to illustrate solidarity on the second day of protests on Friday.

Many signs protesters brought spelled out the names of Black people killed or brutalized by police, most notably 26-year-old Breonna Taylor whom police shot to death in her home.

Water and gallons of milk were gathered for protesters to use to neutralize the eects of tear gas.

The second day of protesting Friday brought an estimated 1,000 people ostensibly to promote racial justice. Others had dierent agendas.

Outside the Hall of Justice on Friday, a protester delivered a message.

LEOWEEKLY.COM //JUNE 4, 2020

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PHOTOS VIEWS

An armed protester raises a ďŹ st.

A line of protesters shielded others on Friday in case of confrontation with police.

Protesters sat down, another attempt to signal to police that they were peacefully protesting.

Kentucky State Police were brought in for the second day of protesting, here lined up outside of the KFC Yum Center on Friday night.

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PHOTOS VIEWS

In The Highlands on Saturday, many protesters were on foot, but a caravan of cars as well as cyclists also moved beside them.

Social distancing might not have been possible or practiced during the protests, but you could see many masks. They could serve the dual purpose of protecting against the coronavirus and hiding identities.

OďŹƒcers in a pickup truck drove down Bardstown Road as the 9 p.m. curfew was about to go into eect.

Protesters gathered and marched through the Highlands on Saturday.

LEOWEEKLY.COM //JUNE 4, 2020

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PHOTOS VIEWS

Graffiti in The Highlands.

As the night fell, police lined up near Wick’s Pizza in The Highlands Saturday night.

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LEOWEEKLY.COM // JUNE 4, 2020

Police waited in an alley before walking out to Bardstown Road to meet protesters.

PHOTOS VIEWS

Downtown Monday, the protest brought out people of a range of ages.

Kentucky State Police form a wall in Jefferson Square Park on Monday.

Taking a knee also was a sign of solidarity and protest.

LEOWEEKLY.COM //JUNE 4, 2020

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PHOTOS VIEWS

Through the confrontation, antagonism and worse, there were a few moments when police and protesters could talk.

A protester and police oďŹƒcer talked in downtown Louisville on Monday.

In what appeared to be a de-escalation of confrontations in recent days, some police oďŹƒcers and protesters found common ground.

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STAFF PICKS ANY TIME

How White People Can Help Search Facebook for Louisville SURJ

Louisville Showing Up For Racial Justice members have practice being white allies. It’s what they’ve done since they formed ALLY in response to the so-called “colorblind era” that came after President Obama’s election. Here’s what they suggest white people do in this time of civil unrest: One, if you’re able, show up to a protest.

If that’s not your thing, donate supplies.

On its Facebook page, LSURJ is asking for water, fruit, homemade masks, goggles and more. Organizers also suggest talking to fellow white people about racial justice in a welcoming manner. If you’re worried about coronavirus, LSURJ is still hosting weekly Freedom Fridays, a vehicle caravan that meets at 4:30 p.m. downtown to protest people being held unnecessarily in jails during the COVID-19 crisis. These protests have been expanded to demand justice for Breonna Taylor. —Danielle Grady

THROUGH JUNE 15

Vote By Mail

Vote, Kentucky! | govoteky.com | Free | Now! If you don’t think your vote matters, remember how close we were (5,000 votes) to having to suffer through COVID-19 and protests against police brutality NO EXCUSE with Matt Bevin as our governor. Because of COVID-19, mail-in voting is available to any registered voter for the first time. Go to the website above anytime, any day through June 15. A ballot request form will be sent to your home, which you will sign and send back (unfortunately, and un-American-ly, you will need to pay for postage at this first stage). Then, soon thereafter, your ballot will come in the mail, this time with a prepaid return envelope. Make your picks and drop it in the mail.

This is our opportunity to make sure mail-in and other ways of expanding voting become permanent. There is also expanded in-person, early voting June 8 through June 22 but by appointment only by calling 5746100. Election Day is June 23, and for now there is only one polling location. Don’t let this be an obstacle to being counted — make this your opportunity to be heard.

—Aaron Yarmuth

UNTIL THERE IS SOCIAL JUSTICE FOR BLACK AND BROWN PEOPLE!

Who To Follow Online Twitter, Facebook

ANY TIME

Want to glean insights and wisdom from people who have been fighting for equal rights and social justice since long before the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George LISTEN! Floyd? Sometimes the best way to be an ally is to just listen and learn. Here are some people worth a listen:

Search for Louisville Community Bail Fund and The Bail Project

Perry Bacon Jr. (@perrybaconjr) — Male High School alum. Writer, reporter for FiveThirtyEight.com.

Bail Out A Protester

Help Louisville protesters get out of jail by donating to two of Louisville’s bail funds. Stand Up Sunday’s Louisville Community Bail Fund “exists to not only bail CONTRIBUTE out folks, but provide post-release support to get them from jail fed, and to a situation of safety.”

You can find it at actionnetwork.org/fundraising/ louisville-community-bailfund/. The Bail Fund is also looking for volunteers to help out those who have been bailed out after they’ve been released.

More information is available on the Facebook group. Another Louisville bail fund is The Bail Project, which got started in Kentucky in 2018. When you VIRTUAL SHAKESPEARE donate to bailproject.org, your donation goes to the national Bail Project, but you can specify that you want your donation to go to Louisville.

One of the great things about The Bail Project is your money gets recycled back into the fund if the city pays back the money. —Danielle Grady

Hannah Drake (@HannahDrake628) — “Mother, author, poet, blogger, publisher, storyteller, truth speaker...STILL GROWING.” Marc Murphy (@MurphyCartoons) — Award-winning editorial cartoonist for The Courier Journal, trial lawyer who is just out of fucks to give.

Dr. Ricky L. Jones (@DrRickyLJones) — Chair of UofL PanAfrican Studies, columnist for The Courier Journal, LEO veteran and general troublemaker/truth-teller who gives fewer fucks than does Marc Murphy.

Joshua Poe (@JoshuaPoe_Lou) — co-principal investigator at the Root Cause Research Center in Louisville who detailed a history of redlining in Louisville.

Sadiqa Reynolds (@SadiqaReynolds) — Louisville Urban League CEO. Attica Scott (@atticascott4ky) — state Representative 41st District.

Bruce Williams (FBruceWilliams) — Pastor at Bates Memorial Baptist Church.

And, finally, LEO Weekly — If you don’t yet follow us on social media, you’re missing out.

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106 Stable diet?

107 Rushing group, informally

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45 Janitor’s tool 48 Britain’s Broadway 49 City near Monterey Bay 50 Latches (onto) 51 Delta preceder 52 Like a Debbie Downer 54 Women of honour 56 Kinda 57 Very, in Veracruz 59 Swing and completely miss 60 Getaway for two lovebirds?

67 Ireland’s best-selling solo artist 68 Home of the original Busch Gardens 70 The compass points 71 Hardy bean 72 Campfire treat 73 ‘‘Too busy’’ 75 Jr.’s junior 77 Suffix with serpent 78 Leader whose name means, literally, ‘‘commander’’ 80 Kilt feature 81 Space to maneuver a ship 83 Seeped (through} 84 Low on dough 86 Big launch of 1957 87 ‘‘Time for a break’’ 88 Fictional city inspired by New York City 89 Sauce put on falafel

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1 Source of the robe material for Incan royalty 2 Home brewer 3 Tell 4 Spry 5 Brooklyn Coll. is part of it 6 Thomas who was chairman of the 9/11 Commission 7 Enjoy deeply 8 Salon brand 9 Magazine audience fig.

10 Suspect No. 7 11 Style for Edward Hopper and George Bellows 12 What might come with fencing?

13 Suspect No. 8 14 Goodwill 15 ‘‘Despicable Me’’ character 16 Intestinal: Prefix 17 Some knotted ropes 19 Elie Wiesel’s homeland 20 Lowest of the eight major taxonomic ranks 26 Flambé 27 Japanese box lunch 33 Oenology : wines :: zythology : ____ 34 Org. in ‘‘Die Hard’’ 36 Teri with a ‘‘Tootsie’’ role 37 It might be snowy 39 Move off the bottle 40 Chip dip, familiarly 41 Badger 42 Diamond family name 43 Like a bad loser 44 Major source of oxygen in the earth’s atmosphere

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1 Battlefield cry 7 Sprint competitor 12 Pollen-producing plant part 18 About three miles 19 Excoriates 21‘ ‘The Deer Hunter’’ director Michael 22 An antique might have one 23 What a Venn diagram shows 24 Like 25 As you inspect each room, you find staff members dressed as ____ 28 Suspect No. 1 29 Start of a Christmas refrain 30 ‘‘I like it!’’

31 Days of old 32 Word that sounds like a number … and is a letter backward 33 Russian pancakes 35 Burn slightly 38 Refusals 39 They’re all ____, so you can easily identify them 44 Popeye’s kid 46 Delta competitor, in brief 47 Woes 50 Suspect No. 2 51 Have trouble swallowing 53 Like beloved books, often 55 Showers 56 Tech debut of 1998 58 Tucson school, in brief 61 California-based auto company 62 Bristle of grain 63 What it all adds up to 64 A ways away 65 Suspect No. 3 66 Spawn 69 Music for the masses?

71 Sly and the Family Stone genre 72 Public spat 74 Considered 76 ____ fusion (type of cuisine) 78 Some appliances 79 They catch dust bunnies 82 It might get a licking: Abbr.

83 Musical family with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

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BY ANDREW CHAIKIN / EDITED BY WILL SHORTZ

1

T A H I N I

THE MYSTERY OF MCGUFFIN MANOR

85 In the study, you find that the thief accidentally left behind an ____ 88 Some sports cars 91 Lots 92 ‘‘That’s ____’’ 93 Some modern ones are smart 96 Four-letter word for a four-letter word 98 In ____ (stuck) 100 Hershey toffee bar 101 Suspect No. 4 102 ‘‘You caught me!,’’ says the thief, who then admits: ‘‘The diamond isn’t here in my room, but it’s hidden in ____’’ 108 ‘‘Hungry’’ game characters 109 What each person gets in an election 110 Spark 111 Ordain 112 Joined at an angle, as two pieces of wood 113 Clothes hanger?

114 Suspect No. 5 115 Suspect No. 6 116 ‘‘Easy now ...’’

G O T H A M

The New York Times Magazine Crossword

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PHOTO BY RACHEL ROBINSON

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SAVAGE LOVE

By Dan Savage | mail@savagelove.net @fakedansavage

BLINDERS

Q: Here goes: I’m a 32-year-old gay male, and I have trouble staying out of my head during sex. I feel like there may be many issues. The one non-issue is everything works fine on my own. When I’m single or “available,” I am OK. Let’s be honest: I’m a slut, and I enjoy it. But when I invest in someone, when I’m trying to have an actual relationship, the sex suffers. With a partner I care about, I feel nervous. I feel small both mentally and physically. And I worry my dick is small. I’ve measured and photographed it, so I know better, but something in me is always asking... are you really enough?

I’m currently in an open relationship with a guy I’ve known for a decade. He’s amazing. Often I’m hard AF just sitting there relaxing with him. But the closer we get to actually having sex, the more nervous I become. I even stop breathing consistently. It’s almost like I feel ashamed to want someone so much. Or something?

It’s frustrating because I would love nothing more than to fuck like rabbits until we were both exhausted. I love him, and I want to be able to please him sexually! Our intimacy, our conversation, our connection — everything else is so strong. But I feel like my problem will kill any future I might have with him. He hasn’t really expressed a concern, but I worry. I have considered the idea of therapy, but the idea of talking to some stranger about my sex life face to face is just daunting. So, what do I do? My other thought is to just blindfold him and say bottoms up.

Dazed In Love A: So, you don’t wanna talk with a therapist about your issues — which touch on more than just sex — but you’re willing to talk to me and all of my readers about them. I realize it’s a little different, DIL, as you don’t have to look me in the eye while we discuss your dick. But there are therapists who specialize in helping people work through their issues around sex, and they’re usually pretty good at setting nervous, new clients at ease. They have to be. So, I would encourage you to have a few sessions with a sex-positive, queer shrink. Talking about your dick with a stranger will be awkward at first, of course, but just like eating ass, DIL, the more you do it, the less awkward it gets

— and after a few sessions, your therapist won’t be a stranger anymore. (To find a sexpositive/poly-positive sex therapist, head over to the website of the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists: aasect.org.)

In the meantime, DIL, go ahead and blindfold your boyfriend — if he’s game, of course, and I can’t imagine he wouldn’t be.

You seem to have an irrational fear of being seen. If your boyfriend were to get a good look at you naked, DIL, especially if he got a good look at your dick, you’re convinced he would suddenly conclude — even though he’s known you for a decade and is obviously into you — that you’re not “enough” for him. So don’t let him get a good look.

Blindfold that boy.

Don’t lie to him about why you want to blindfold him — tell him you feel a little insecure — but bringing in a blindfold makes working through your insecurities into a sexy game. Being able to have sex with the boyfriend without having to worry about him sizing up your cock will free you to enjoy sex and who knows? After a few hot sex sessions with your sensory-deprived boyfriend (or a few dozen hot sessions), your confidence may get the boost it needs and you won’t feel so insecure about your cock or anything else.

And even if your dick was small — which it isn’t, DIL, and you’ve got the measurements and photos to prove it — you could still have great sex with your boyfriend. Guys with dicks of all sizes, even guys without dicks, can have great sex. And if you’re still nervous after blindfolding the boyfriend and worried you’ll go soft, DIL, you can take the pressure off by enjoying sex acts and play that don’t require you to be hard. You can bottom for him, you can blow him, you can use toys on his ass, you can sit on his face while he jacks off, etc. There’s a lot you can do without your dick.

Zooming out, DIL, intimacy and hot sex are often negatively correlated — meaning, the more intimate a relationship becomes, the less hot the sex gets. Anyone who’s watched more than one American sitcom has heard a million jokes about this sad fact.

People in sexually exclusive relationships who still want hot sex to be a part of their lives have to work at solving this problem with their partners. But if you’re in an open

relationship and can get sex elsewhere, well, then you can have love and intimacy and pretty good sex with your partner and adventures and novelty and crazy hot sex with other people.

Ideally, of course, a person in an open relationship wants — and it is possible for a person in an open relationship to have — hot sex with their committed partner as well as their other partners. But some people can’t make it work, DIL. However hard they try, some people can’t have uninhibited or unselfconscious sex with a long-term partner. The more invested they are in someone, the higher the stakes are, the longer they’re together, etc., the less arousing sex is for them. Most of the people with this problem — people who aren’t capable of having great sex with a long-long-long-term partner — are in monogamous relationships and, judging from the jokes on sitcoms, they’re utterly (but hilariously) miserable. You’re not in a monogamous relationship, DIL, so if it turns out you’re incapable of having great sex with a committed partner — if you can’t manage to integrate those things — you don’t have to go without great sex. You can have intimacy at home and great sex elsewhere.

But it’s a double-edged sword, DIL, because if you can get hot sex elsewhere, you may not be motivated to do the work required — to talk to that shrink, to get that blindfold, to work through those issues — that would make it possible for you to have great sex with your partner and others.

Q: I’ve been with my boyfriend for three years. I’m a 27-year-old woman, and this was my first “real” relationship. Before I met my boyfriend, I would have considered myself a steady dick-jumper. I went flitting from guy to guy. On paper, our relationship seemed great. He tries to make sure I have what I need, whether it’s a meal, a TV show, a record to play. He is stable and affectionate; most of all, he wanted to be with me. But he’s boring. When I talk to him, I want to be somewhere, anywhere else. The more I tried to engage with him, the more obvious our lack of any deep connection seemed. He is stoic and unemotional, whereas I cry during car commercials. I’m desperately seeking an emotional equal. Every day I go back and forth between loving where we are and wanting to run the fuck away.

I have a tendency to do the latter — with guys, friends, jobs — so I don’t know what I REALLY want. But I feel so incredibly unfulfilled. We have a lackluster sex life, and I feel more like his roommate the past year

than his girlfriend. I want to be inspired by my partner. My question is... actually, I’m not really sure I have a question.

First Relationship Fizzle A: Since you didn’t ask a question, FRF, I guess you don’t require an answer. So, I’ll make an observation instead: You repeatedly refer to this relationship in the past tense. (“…this was my first ‘real’ relationship,” “…our relationship seemed great,” “… the more I tried.”) So, you obviously know what you need to do. Your soon-to-be-exboyfriend sounds like a good guy, FRF, and you don’t want to hurt him, which makes dumping him harder. But if he’s not the right guy for you, FRF, you’re not the right woman for him. Go back to flitting — and who knows? Maybe one day you’ll jump on a dick that’s attached to a guy you who inspires you. Or, maybe you don’t want one guy — forever or for long. Some people are happier flitting than settling.

Join me for my first-ever Savage Lovecast Livestream! June 4 at 7:00 PST. I’ll answer as many of your questions as I can, all from the comfort of your computer. Tickets are at savagelovecast.com/events. mail@savagelove.net Follow Dan on Twitter @FakeDanSavage www.savagelovecast.com

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LEOWEEKLY.COM //JUNE 4, 2020

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Illustration © 2020 by R. Crumb.

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