Starting on the date of May 28th, 2020 thousands took to the streets with a focal point of 600 W Jefferson St, Louisville, KY also known as Breewayy. With quotes and phrases such as All Eyes on Louisville it was daunting to find that statues, monuments, honorable banners were concocted of Breonna Taylor but not in her own city. Not even in the city where she was murdered by the Louisville Metro Police Department. 

The City attempted to quickly put up a historical marker which can be found in this article: --> https://bit.ly/3p5L4lF <-- but it was quickly realized that this would cause more trauma than healing, do more harm than good. Names of people who had passed on as an indirect and direct effect of protesting were left off. Verbiage desired by family members was not taken into consideration and the final problem, the city was deciding what healing looked like and not the people.

The oppressor telling the oppressed how to view and fight against oppression is, in and of itself, oppressive.

Therefore, for Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer’s office to mandate what "healing" looks like for our community, post-Breonna Taylor protests of 2020, is an act of oppression. And this local government (under the departmental supervision of then-Chief of Community Building Vincent James) is clearly the oppressor.

Plans were announced last year by the city to install a plaque at Jefferson “Injustice” Square, dictating its own interpretation of events sparked in Louisville that burned across America. Those plans have now apparently been “blackballed,” an interesting choice of words considering its tinge of racist rhetoric. When asked about the status of the project in late November, Mayor Fischer appeared to be unaware of the demise of his oft-trumpeted, intentional tribute to Breonna Taylor and promised to “look into it.” 

What truly needs to be “blackballed” is the imposition of the city government’s own vision of “healing” on its people. The mere whiff of a commemorative poster, a flower, or a painting appearing in the Square after 11 pm elicits a swift overnight “clearing” response from Public Works. Not only is the erection of a meaningful memorial necessary for our community’s emotional recovery, that same community should design it, led by the families of those who died during the months of protest. The city should then fund and install it to agreed-upon specifications of the designers.

Staged amidst a catastrophic pandemic, the civil unrest sparked after the murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd profoundly affected us all. Thousands of our citizens stood up to fight for justice, and several locals lost their lives in the process. 

The intended marker at Injustice Square would have included Breonna Taylor’s name and two others: David “Yaya” McAtee, who was shot and killed by National Guard and LMPD during a non-protest related, curfew-defying gathering across the street from his own restaurant on the first weekend of unrest, and documentary photographer Tyler Gerth, murdered at Injustice Square a few weeks later, the very day a white supremacist militia threatened to wreak havoc on the occupation at 6th and Jefferson.

Two other names have been chanted by the protest community since their untimely murders: Travis Nagdy, a young organizer who was racing to a November 2020 protest when he was gunned down in his own neighborhood by an alleged carjacker, and Kris “ROC” Smith, a live streamer and organizer who died a month later in a hail of drive-by gunfire in front of his home.

The planned marker would have excluded Nagdy and Smith. The city’s reasoning? Theirs were not “protest” deaths, but how can ignoring these activists’ contributions promote the much-ballyhooed “healing” city officials practically beg for in every speech? The kinetic energy and remarkable impact of these two individuals cannot be hidden from public view unless their families specifically decline their inclusion.

If the city of Louisville truly does believe in supporting our community and being of service to its citizens, it will sincerely solicit input from those most affected by the events being commemorated and facilitate the installation of a suitable, substantial, and lasting remembrance. 

And when in protest chants, we “Say Their Names!” they should be ALL the names considered fitting by those to whom the torch has been passed.