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RUMORS CAUSED CITY HAVOC, NOT THE PROTESTS By Dan Delaney | leo@leoweekly.com ON TUESDAY, Aug. 25, 2020, Louisville, cover their yards with fake tombstones and cemetery-themed decor.” Kentucky was supposed to have been shut At a press conference, Gregory was down by 600 cars and destroyed by thouasked about the report, and he replied, “So, sands of Black militia. I knew that was coming, so it got my name It didn’t happen, of course. Amid the protests for the unjust killing of on it. The NCIC communication is confiBreonna Taylor by police, Louisville became dential” and “I can neither confirm nor deny if that statement is the victim of a accurate or correct.” runaway reaction to Anyone remotely Earlier in the pernicious disinforpress conference, mation and rumors familiar with the he said: “Some of spread and exagthe information we gerated by social history of racism have received, some media. Fear swelled in the U.S. should of those rumors, do to such a pitch that include traffic shutcity and state police recognize the sigdowns, ‘peaceful made special plans, sit-ins,’ if you will, businesses and nificance of those on the roadways, schools shut their words. The myth and we are prepared buildings and people to respond to that.” avoided the streets. of the Black man Peaceful sit-ins What occurred in on the roadways is Louisville that day out to rape white a far cry from 600 should be a lesson women has been cars shutting down to cities throughout the interstates. the country about long been used to The report did the consequences of rouse intense fear not mention a date, allowing disinforonly that the attack mation and rumors within the white might “occur in mid to dictate action. to late August.” But On Thursday, population. This is on Aug. 18, LouisAug. 17, an image the kind of extreme ville police Chief began circulating Robert Schroeder on Facebook of fear that drove released a memowhat appeared to randum designating be a report from people to hang Tuesday, Aug. 25 the FBI’s National Black men from as an “All WorkCrime InformaDay,” meaning all tion Center, or trees while others officers would be on NCIC, although its duty. Aug. 25 was authenticity has not gathered to watch the date of a highly been established. and cheer. publicized protest Ascribed to Loumarch by “Until isville police Maj. Freedom,” a New Aubrey Gregory, the York-based social report stated that “a justice group that local group of indihad come to Louisville earlier to help supviduals” intended to “shut down” the city by port the protests. By the weekend of Aug. rather unusual means: 19, the NCIC report had somehow been con“The plan is for part of the group to use flated with Until Freedom’s “Good Trouble approx 600 vehicles to block interstates.… Tuesday,” and rumors swept through social Once the interstates are blocked, particimedia. pants will hold mock funeral processions They included that “up to 2,000 people along the interstates. While law enforcement and 700 cars” from “Black militia” groups responds to the blocked interstates, other were “coming to shut down our interstate group members will ‘caravan’ to the homes system.” One claimed that they plan to “use of [the mayor and attorney general] and will
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stolen cars to block streets and highways.” Another declared that “these aren’t kids but thugs with connections to organized crime.” Others said of the imagined villains that “they are domestic terrorists,” and that they “have a history in other cities of looting, carjacking and accosting women.” Finally, paranoia took hold and some regressed to a disturbing, hysterical expression of fear: “Do not let your kids around St Matthews or go out in Louisville alone.” “Do not go out by yourself or with a group of women/girls.” “They intend to target women out shopping.” “Look out single women drivers you are a target!” “They WILL be carjacking looking for females by themselves” “A black militia is out to get as many white women and carjackings as they can” “THEY WILL BE TARGETING WHITE FEMALES!” Anyone remotely familiar with the history of racism in the U.S. should recognize the significance of those words. The myth of the Black man out to rape white women has long been used to rouse intense fear within the white population. This is the kind of extreme fear that drove people to hang Black men from trees while others gathered to watch and cheer. We have no way of knowing how many of those statements were just written by trolls or bots or people in other countries, nor how many people have actually reached that extreme. But if we ignore that people are being pushed toward such extremes, it will only spread further and grow stronger. These kinds of rumors typically circulate only within small conspiracy theory groups. But most of the quotes above were also shared by individuals on Facebook and NextDoor. Unfortunately, the police and other leaders helped to spread fear across the city by posting on social media and speaking directly to citizens and businesses, warning of imminent danger coming on Aug. 25 and advising them to stay home and close their businesses that day. St. Matthews residents said police sent a warning to local businesses claiming that “busloads are expected to arrive…from all nearby major cities” and that “the purpose of this event is to DISRUPT travel [and] commerce.”
Tracie Texas Shifflett, executive director of Louisville Metro Police Foundation, warned on social media of “several out of town groups that will be converging on Louisville” and that “approximately 600-700 cars will be blocking the expressways.” She ended with, “My advice would be if you or your family can stay home that day, I would.” On his Facebook page, state Rep. Thomas Huff, a Republican from Shepherdsville, wrote that he had “received word that THREE groups (associated with NFAC) are either in or coming to Louisville this week to block roadways and streets” and added the ludicrous claim that “They are threatening to stop white motorists and pedestrians demanding Reparation Money for Slavery!” People were afraid. Humana closed offices. TARC canceled buses. Some private schools switched to NTI for the day. Paddock Shops restaurants pulled all of their outdoor furniture inside. Though not completely to blame, the Louisville police should at least admit some responsibility for stirring that fear. After the march had ended and the protesters dispersed, interim-Chief Schroeder delivered a “protest update” to the press, in which he gave a brief and mundane rundown of the basic facts of the day. A few hundred protesters had gathered at a small park in the middle of the city and walked down the street in a peaceful march. Then, 60 to 70 protesters sat in the street to get arrested. Schroeder conspicuously avoided talking about the elephant in the room: the fact that nothing had happened. During the time of the march, I drove back and forth along the interstates. I encountered no cars blocking ramps nor any evidence of traffic congestion. A few days later, I received the following text message from an executive at James Graham Brown Cancer Center: “I was at the JGBCC last Tuesday. It was a totally normal day and everyone was in as normal. The highways weren’t blocked. I drove there and we were open like normal.” What happened on Tuesday, Aug. 25 in Louisville was the equivalent of a school bomb threat on the scale of an entire city, and the reaction was equally severe. Police mobilized their forces while thousands of citizens stayed in their homes for fear that the roads would be too dangerous. That reaction cannot be allowed to set the prec-
