Black Lives Matter vs. All Lives Matter

Ok, whew! Where to start with this post. Its been a long time coming. First, we thought that all we had to do is survive and get through COVID-19 together. Now we are adding protests, shootings, rioting, and looting. My poor city. Our downtown area looks like a war zone. Windows are broken and boarded up. I barely even recognize it.

So, our city has had an officer-involved shooting where an innocent bystander was shot 6 times and died. This bystander was 26-year-old Breonna Taylor. Breonna served the city of Louisville as an EMT. Just looking at her pictures you could tell she was a bright and happy young lady. The agency that I used to work for, Louisville Metro Police Department, was serving a no-knock warrant. A no-knock warrant is exactly how it sounds, the officers or detectives bust through the door then announce their presence. It has always been my opinion that No-Knock Warrants are in a very gray area of the law. So in this case, 3 detectives on LMPD came through the door of the residence. Now, the officers said they announced their presence, Breonna’s boyfriend said they did not. Breonna’s boyfriend immediately grabbed his gun to protect himself and Breonna for whoever had kicked open the door. Breonna’s boyfriend fired his weapon shoot the Sgt in the leg. Another officer returned fire. It is unclear but one of the officers shot his gun 10 times. He has since been fired from LMPD. Breonna was shot 6 times. Sadly Breonna passed away. These three officers/detectives/sergeants have been on administrative leave from LMPD. I personally have worked with two of the officers and I am just stunned and shocked.

So, this incident happened in the wake of the George Floyd murder, and a young black male who was shot to death while jogging in his own neighborhood. So Louisville has had some protestors. The first day the protest was peaceful until the night, then it seemed like all hell broke loose in the night. 7 people were injured, 1 shot, and caused LMPD to use tear gas to disperse the crowd who refused orders to disperse. That night not a single LMPD officer fired their weapon. So every day and every night since that first night of protests, they have been coming out in full force. The first two days I was like ok, alright peaceful protests…then when night came all hell would break loose we had people stealing, throwing bottles filled with urine at police officers, getting in police officer’s faces screaming obscenities. Mayor Fischer had to eventually call in the national guard to help with crowd control.

My experience with this is, last Wednesday I was scheduled to have my monthly infusion at 730am. My doctor’s office is at 1st & Liberty Street, downtown. I wasn’t even thinking about protestors being out that early. As I turned on to Liberty Street from 9th Street a few blocks in…5th and Liberty were blocked. There was a row of people blocking the intersection. They looked like a crazy mob. I was so mad that they were blocking the street with their bodies and their cars. I had to go 3-4 blocks out of my way to make to my appointment on time. I was so nervous and shaken. I mean these protestors looked like they were gonna bust out my windshield or cause me harm. I heard later that day that they arrested 17 people and towed away their cars. I totally understand and agree with the protestors. Justice needs to be done for Breonna. But when it gets to being violent, looting, rioting, blocking streets we have lost sight of why we are protesting and our overall mission. I do not agree with violence, looting, rioting, or blocking the streets. Man, they even stole the statue of the horse in front of Kosair Children’s Hospital. I mean really, WTF. And if I’m hearing it correctly a lot of these people that are being violent & looting and getting arrested aren’t even from Louisville so they don’t care what they damage. We have a statue of King Louis that was a gift from France and they broke off his hand and was passing it around like a trophy of some sort. WTF really? We can’t get that back. Or replace its symbolism.  Louisville was named for King Louis.

I didn’t always think this way. I always thought Black Lives Matter was one-sided and I didn’t associate myself with it. Hell, I lost my best friend in the world over our different opinions on Black Lives Matter. Now that I look back on it, I shake my damn head. My main argument would be “Why aren’t they in Chicago on the black on black crime”, I mean we are offing each other in record numbers and if Black Lives really mattered to that organization they would try to do something towards the black on black crime. All Lives Matter was my motto about it all. It didn’t really dawn on me until ad a friend’s post on Facebook. She gave a great analogy. “Take a neighborhood with all different styles of houses, yes all these houses matter but its the one in the center that’s on fire and needs more attention,” it really just clicked for me then. I understand Black Lives Matter now. They are not saying that other lives are invaluable it’s just that black people are having the struggle of their lives right now. I totally agree. However, I would like to see BLM represent when black on black crimes happen as well. I understand that it’s about the racism but black on black crime is a problem too.

So my official stance on BLM is I support the cause but I do not support the rioting, looting, vandalism, shooting, etc. And I would like to see the organization grow and include ./

And that’s just my two cents on the subject.

#breonnataylor #blacklivesmatter #sayhername