Two years ago today Breonna Taylor was gunned down in her own home by Louisville Metro Police Department officers executing a no-knock warrant. Two years on and only one officer, Brett Hankison, has been charged in connection with the events of that night. Hankison was only charged with wanton endangerment for firing blindly into other apartments and nine days ago he was acquitted of that.
Cops around here love to say "If you're not doing anything wrong, you shouldn't have anything to hide.' By that measure, the bastards are guilty as hell and they know it too. They arrested Breonna's boyfriend and it took until late May for his 911 call to be released. It wasn't until that came out that many people here started to get an idea of what had happened on March 13. Coming hot on the heels of George Floyd's murder people took to the streets and LMPD responded with even more brutality. The photo above is from the second night of protests here and was my first taste of tear gas.
The only change we've seen since has been Louisville banning no knock warrants. As I was editing photos for this post I happened to notice the SWAT team preparing to make an entry on a neighbor's house and it damn sure sounded like a no knock, the first thing I heard was the sledgehammer hitting the door. I'll post my not very good photos of that tomorrow, in the meantime check out this article about how LMPD's own training material portrayed police as avengers who carry out god's wrath.
If you've got a few minutes, well 44 minutes to be exact, check out The Model City, a new documentary about how LMPD went from being held up as a model city of police reform to being synonymous with police brutality and excess. It just premiered a couple hours ago, had to interrupt writing this to watch it but it was worth it. Some of the protest scenes in it may look a bit familiar if you've been following me long enough, it'll give you a better idea of why I'm still harping on about LMPD.
Protesting isn't just clashing with the cops, although that does make for better photos. Definitely sucks up most of the media attention. Much of what went on in 2020 (and continues to this day), was community building. Organizing, creating mutual aid networks, connecting those in need with those who can help, people helping each other in the most trying of times. You know, what most people pawn off on the government to take care of.
If you want something done right you've gotta do it yourself. I think the chances of the powers that be making meaningful change themselves is slim to none and Slim just left town. Guess that leaves it up to us. Until this time next year, SAY HER NAME!
"If you're not doing anything wrong, you shouldn't have anything to hide," say cops who oppose body cameras and filming police activity, politicians who condemn whistleblowers, and bureaucrats trying to prevent leaks to the public they claim to serve. Libertarians, anarchists, and BLM should be able to unite in condemning the police state mess we all face.
Indeed. In fact that has already come to pass to some degree. In large part it was libertarians, anarchists, and of course BLM providing armed security to the protests.
Speaking of libertarians, I got a question for you: how do you delineate/distinguish between the Gadsden waving bootlickers and actual libertarians? I've met plenty of both but the former makes me think of your reactions to Stirner's adherents.
Do they also wave a thin-blue-line flag supporting the people who do the treading?
Yep, thems the ones!
Lol, when I was at the state fair here last year the Libertarian Party of Kentucky had up a modified Gadsden that said ' Dont tread on anyone'.
All are confused. Some will never learn there is no law bad enough that the cops won't kill you to enforce it, and no cop bad enough the system won't shield him from accountability. Others may yet understand the police are an occupying enemy army. I try to be patient, since we've all probably been further toward statism in our pasts, but I do feel frustrated at the cognitive dissonance and excuses for abuse.
LP KY is pretty good about consistent opposition to most forms of state abuse based on what I have seen, but they still seem to think participating in the system is important. I don't get it, unless it's effectively evangelism for drawing the liberty-leaning out of the two-party dichotomy as the first step toward supporting real liberty.
Yeah, that. I think the protests in 2020 and more specifically the police response to them did more to get people to wake up and see the occupying army for what it was than anything I could ever say. Watching it unfold, all I could think was 'this is radicalizing the white people!' In regards to the cognitive dissonance, did you go to public school? At least were I grew up the school system was geared towards churning out workers, not providing you with the skills to reason your way out of a paper bag. I suspect that is deliberate...
Lol, my view of the LP KY is skewed by a friend of mine who feuded with them for years. He was an interesting cat, attempted to renounce his social security number, was always giving the party hell for basically being a tame showpiece opposition party.
This is just really sad and it breaks my heart 😕
Yeah, I wish there was a happy ending but I can't seem to find it.
Clashing with cops or not... these are some excellent photos. Thanks for sharing them with us and for you passion for justice and truth!
Thank you. Welcome! Thanks for taking the time to drop by and take a look!
It's breaks my heart badly😢
It's terrible, made even more so by how little has changed since.