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today is day 43 of the uprisings in Louisville...it hasn’t stopped. local media just got bored of covering and they’re actually fairly racist in their programming anyway. they were posting faces of the folks on the ground and have been underreporting the arrests from jump.
I really get on this app every day and see y’all disrespect Breonna Taylor and a community that loved her. the memes are so uncalled for. and like, literally....WHO asked y’all to do that?! and tbh, “influencers” are largely responsible for this.
then, to add fuel to the fire ~so to speak~ you have these “celebrity activists ACTUALLY COME TO YOUR CITY and not coordinate a single thing with local organizers. these are folks that have NO IDEA what goes on in our state or our cities.
like when you think of Black Liberation work historically, that is both disrespectful and dangerous. you don’t just come to people’s cities and do whatever tf. there is no space for that in the movement.
so ima start with Until Freedom. first off, Sh*un K*ng helps fund this. anything that that man is involved in is automatically skep to me because of his history of abusing and stealing from Black families. Attorney Benjamin Crump is also in the mix with this. + Tamika Mallory.
so the first time UF came down here, knowing nothing really about our state, they decided that they wanted to “go to the capitol.” please keep in mind that this is OVER 50 miles away from this city.
Tamika’s call-to-action was a radio commercial with Breonna’s mom asking ppl to “join her for civil disobedience.” the reason that we are having these uprisings is in order to DISRUPT and DEMAND attention. but UF got a PERMIT to do this action.
because they got a permit for this action, the cops knew everything about it. this resulted in them...closing the capitol and sending ppl to do remote work on the day of. so you have this woman bringing CELEBRITIES from outta state to do this “civil disobedience” for why?
and they were never coordinating with local/state organizers. merely an after thought. so inevitably, this brought ppl out, many ppl that had not been at actions prior. this would’ve been fine, but because they did not coordinate locally they had no medics, security, water, etc.
these celebrities came to the capitol, stood up on the stage in their bright ass orange shirts above the crowd of people, and held this “civil disobedience” at an empty capitol. and I want to remind people that these are our real lives, like Breonna was a real, whole person.
just as the people of our communities are whole people with feelings and needs. then you invite people of our community to an action where they’re left vulnerable. ppl were having heat strokes y’all, and then were told the water that they did bring with them was “for the celebs.”
I can’t even make this up. beyond having a few decent speeches that weren’t riddled with platitudes and misogyny, idk what was accomplished. then what do I see? Tamika posts a vid of Ben Crump’s speech...
this man has the audacity to type “All hail the Queen of the Movement” under Tamika’s post. HUHHHH?!??? NOW YALL REALLY PISSED ME OFF! #1 y’all just showed up and asked people to come here from outta state during a pandemic and didn’t ask us about what resources that we need.
#2 these celebrities showed up here and did...what exactly? I cannot name one tangible thing. #3 there is no mf “Queen of the Movement.” I need y’all to understand how ridiculous that sounds. there is no space for monarchy in our mvmt of collective liberation.
in fact, there are so many implications with this rhetoric. like local, grassroots organizers can’t do shit unless we have these celebrity activists on the ground. language is SO important. this was just another slap in the face.
#4 I just know that 2 days later, June 27, Tyler Gerth was murdered, and all the celebs were back at home in there cities. there was no material change that occurred. and we’re here, left to mourn still without the resources that we need. #5 then Tamika is gone post this:
again, something that no one asked for. they’ve announced that they’re COMING BACK. and ppl are in the comments like ‘oh would it better for me to fly out or donate’ or ‘yes I’ll travel to get there’. and it’s like...y’all weren’t catching flights for US.
y’all weren’t willing to prioritize the needs of the people in these communities, but a celebrity suggests an action with no aims and y’all are ready to catch a flight and potentially COVID to show up for that?! and all in the name of justice for Breonna.
then there’s this. this makes me feel physically ill. this looks like they fully made the flyer and were like ‘oh we should prob put Breonna on here—where we got room left?’ I mean seriously. and I would again like to mention, we will not panel discussion our way into revolution.
this isn’t even to bash these celebrities, but as a youth organizer and a ~studying abolitionist~ I deeply believe that we cannot continue to let these things slide because they are harmful to our community and to our struggle. there’s literally no room to continue like this.
I believe in transformative justice and building revolutionary relationships. this is to inform ppl that these folks that may or may not know how they are harming the work we’re doing in the community, that they need to ALLOW THEMSELVES to be CALLED IN so that change may occur.
there is a lot of sinister shit that happens in KY local and state politics. I mean just think, M*tch McC*nnell has been shaping our politics for 36 YEARS. that don’t even sound right. just like Atlanta, Ferguson, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Chicago—Louisville has a rich history.
amidst these global uprisings, we have more resources to share about organizing than we ever have. I am for the liberation of all oppressed peoples. we are living in a turbulent time, but I know that the youth of KY are prepared to mobilize.
we must continue to radically build community and be willing to address the ways that we cause harm. stop disrespecting Breonna on these hell sites. ABOLISH THE POLICE. ABOLISH THE CARCERAL STATE. ABOLISH BORDERS. ABOLISH CELEBRITY.
