You would think that a police department that is under scrunity for killing an innocent black woman in her home — Breonna Taylor — would want to tamp down on actions that are perceived as racists or straight out of Trump’s playbook of “Blacks gathering together are scary and must be met with force.” But the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) was doubling down this weekend on giving the middle finger to black Louisvillians. We had both the Kentucky Derby this Saturday (ran late because of COVID-19) and members of a civil right groups protesting the killing of Breonna Taylor. Now, throw into this situation white supremacists like the 3% thugs, and guess what happened?
LMPD let the white supremacists go head on with the BLM protesters in downtown Louisvile, while LMPD met other civll rights protesters at Churchill Downs with a barrier and military vehicles.
Here’s Joseph Gerth of the Louisville Courier-Journal on what happened:
When a group of white people wearing camouflage, flak jackets and carrying assault weapons marched to downtown's Jefferson Square to confront Black Lives Matter protesters, there wasn’t a police officer to be found.
There were some tense arguments. Some pushing and shoving.
And it wasn’t clear what would erupt next.
But the police laid back, saying most of their resources were deployed protecting Churchill Downs, where they expected large protests to occur later in the day.
I call horse manure, on that.
Police knew the group, led by a fella named Dylan Stevens, who calls himself "the Angry Viking," was meeting at Cox Park and planned to head downtown at some point. Had they been following on social media, they would have known when the group left the park, regrouped at Waterfront Park, and when they started their march to Jefferson Square Park where the BLM protesters gather each day.
Had they been following The Courier Journal’s Matt Glowicki on Twitter, they would have had 82 minutes notice to move officers into place to stop the two sides from confronting each other — which we know can be deadly from similar clashes in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and Portland, Oregon.
Instead, they allowed the heavily armed Trump supporters to advance on the park and then only moved officers in after most of the Trump-supporting militia members had retreated and the ones who remained were outnumbered by BLM protesters.
And how did the white supremacists behave when they met up with the BLM protesters? Here some pics of that interaction:
They gotta have their semi-automatic weapons with them.
BLM on the left, while White Supremacists are on the right.
Yes the guy in the fake Viking helmet is a Trump supporters screaming at a BLM protester with a bullhorn. Such respect.
There are plenty more images from this downtown protest event. But I think you can see that there are no cops keeping the two groups apart. And we are fortunate that only a couple of scuffles broke out between the white supremacists and BLM protesters. As Gerth points out, LMPD is blaming the fact that they had to provide security for the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. The white supremacists didn’t go to Churchill Downs. They announced they were going where most of the BLM protesters were meeting, which was at the downtown location.
And I will let Gerth give you the rest:
According to a statement from Louisville Metro Police, officers didn't intervene at first because "Due to the size of the crowd, we determined it was not safe to go in."
So, they let a situation they knew about in advance get out of hand and then refused to intervene to defuse it? Are you kidding me?
The second act played out four miles away outside Churchill Downs, which was surrounded by temporary fencing, police and Kentucky National Guardsmen, and roads in and out were blocked by dump trucks and other big vehicles.
When the group Until Freedom arrived at the fence, it was greeted by officers and guardsmen.
'Like sitting ducks':Where were Louisville police as 2 groups of protesters collided?
The group has conducted several non-violent protests in Louisville in recent weeks. Before the group left Louisville’s South Central Park to march to the racetrack, one of the organizers urged those attending to step in and stop anyone who might get “out of control.”
It was a mix of white and Black protesters — but predominately Black — demanding justice for Breonna Taylor, the African American woman who was shot and killed by Louisville police officers in her apartment March 13.
As Until Freedom marched around the track, a large contingent of officers and guardsmen — some of them in Humvees and police vehicles — mirrored their movements, but from inside the fences.
When Until Freedom arrived on Central Avenue, near Churchill’s main gate, just before the Derby was to run, they stood behind a fence that was more than five feet tall.
Dozens of police in riot gear and carrying long sticks in case they needed to bash heads moved into position and formed an intimidating line along Central Avenue between the peaceful protesters and the track.
It looked like they were preparing for war.
This is one of at least two scuffles that broke out between the white supremacists and BLM protesters.
LMPD is at war with the black community in Louisville. Nothing like doubling down on racist behavior during civil unrest caused by LMPD’s killing of an innocent black woman. We have a long way to go in Louisville before there is even a racial truce let alone racial harmony.
