UPDATE: Thank you, Kat Snyder. Kat mentioned in the comments that there are orgs actively raising funds for the Louisville Bail Fund, and that it’s Breonna Taylor’s birthday tomorrow (June 5). Kat now has a diary up with a link for donating to the fund, where you can donate in Breonna’s memory or for any reason. (There’s no field for mentioning the reason for your donation, but you know why you’re doing it.) Please go there and send a little coin if you have the means, and also help Kat’s diary get some eyeballs.
(Edit: Fixed diary title.)
Edit 2:
- Governor Andy Beshear’s office: (502) 564-2611
- Lousville Mayor Greg Fischer’s office: (502) 574-2003
I think they need to hear from us. Loud and clear.
The Kentucky State Fraternal Order of Police doesn’t seem to have a phone number listed. Hmm.
Attica Woodson Scott is the only African American woman currently serving in the Kentucky General Assembly. She has served in the Kentucky House of Representatives since 2016.
Last Friday night, she was attacked by cops in her home town of Louisville during a peaceful demonstration.
Today, she was interviewed by Ari Shapiro on NPR’s All Things Considered. Her own words follow.
SHAPIRO: Scott marched downtown Friday night with her teenage daughter, and I asked her to tell me about what happened.
SCOTT: For five amazing hours, it was beautiful - love, support for one another, resistance; of course, civil disobedience. And I love to see the young black man who, when vehicles would try to drive through the line of people who were locking arms, they'd walk up to the driver and say, we love you, but you can't come this way. You have to turn around. Everything was in love until law enforcement showed up, and then that's when things became violent. I walked up to the line where the police were, and immediately, there was an officer who made his way directly to me to start pushing and shoving me without ever opening his mouth, without saying a word.
SHAPIRO: Just physical contact before even...
SCOTT: Just - I'm five feet even. This guy had to be over six feet and just started pushing against me, no word whatsoever.
SHAPIRO: Did you, at any point, say, I'm an elected representative. Did you...
SCOTT: I didn't want to even do that.
SHAPIRO: Yeah.
SCOTT: It wasn't necessary. I don't - I'm here in solidarity with my neighbors, my constituents, my friends, my family. I shouldn't have to single myself out as if I'm special or different. You should respect and value all of us. And so you're advancing on us, and we're being peaceful. We're singing. We're playing music. We marched around the block. We marched around the police department. And never once was there an act of vandalism or violence.
SHAPIRO: And it intensified from there, right?
SCOTT: Quickly, within 10 minutes - I mean, minding my business, talking to a friend, and boom. And I couldn't believe it. I mean, I got separated from my daughter. She was literally across the street. But the tear gas smoke was so thick, and my eyes were burning and throat burning that I couldn't even get across the street to my daughter. And she was terrified. And I'm falling, running. At one point, I'm blind by my mask because I couldn't keep it over my mouth because I had to put it over my eyes.
Pretty clear who the thugs are, here.
Rep. Scott is quite clear in the interview that there have been no consequences, including for the Louisville police chief, who will retire with full benefits despite having been fired, and for the three officers who killed Breonna Taylor and are still working for the LMPD.
Plenty of other details in the interview. Rep. Scott lives in West Louisville. At the beginning of the interview a blaring train horn punctuates the background. East Louisville is the whiter, wealthier part of town. There, they have quiet zones where trains can’t blow their horns. Not so in West Louisville, the majority-black area, where they have been “trying for decades” to get the same restrictions placed.
SCOTT: In the East End, they have quiet zones. Trains can't blow their horns. We've been trying for decades to get that in West Louisville so that kids can sleep at night and not have to get up at 6 in the morning to go to school with two or three hours of sleep because the train horn blew all night. It's all part of it.
It’s all part of it.
“Our” Democratic Governor needs to get on this.
What did she take away from the demonstration?
SHAPIRO: So when you think about the younger generation, what your daughter has experienced, what lessons do you think young people are taking from what they've seen in this last week?
SCOTT: I think they're taking away love. So they know from community, from people, from neighbors and from friends, there's love. I'm disappointed, though, because they're also receiving the message that police are here to abuse them not protect them. And so I hope from here that they take those messages and say, well, then it's going to take us to transform the systems in which we operate, dismantle them, break them down and build something that works for all of us.