Protesters and counterprotesters will take to the streets hours before the Kentucky Derby is set to take place.
Demonstrators will continue their daily protests demanding the officers who shot and killed Breonna Taylor get arrested, and they are expected to be downtown and near Churchill Downs, where the race will take place.
One of the more prominent demonstrations will be in the Taylor Berry neighborhood, and that protest has been organized by the Justice and Freedom Coalition, a local group striving for more police accountability, and a national social justice group called Until Freedom, according to the Courier-Journal. The group also partnered with the Not F—ing Around Coalition, which is a black militia.
The leader of the NFAC, John Jay Johnson, who goes by the moniker Grand Master Jay, previously demanded his followers to “burn this motherf—er down” if the officers who shot Taylor don’t get charged, but he has since walked that back.
A no-named pro-Second Amendment group is also planning on being visible in the city on Saturday afternoon. Dylan Stevens, the leader of the group, said they are pro-gun and pro-police but not a part of the “3 percenters” far-right militia, according to WAVE3 News.
“This is a challenging time,” Mayor Greg Fischer said Wednesday. “We’re using all the resources that we have to address the safety issues that Louisville is facing right now, and we’ll continue to do so today and tomorrow and in the days that come after that. We’ll continue to use LMPD resources so that we can keep our city as safe as we possibly can.”
There were some calls for the derby not to take place this year, and it was delayed for the coronavirus, but it will go on without spectators. Churchill Downs Incorporated CEO William Carstanjen defended the decision to hold the event, saying that they recognize racial injustice.
“The community in general overwhelmingly supports having the Derby,” Carstanjen told CNBC on Aug. 27. “That doesn’t mean that we’re not sensitive and a part of the dialogue on the social and racial equality issues in our community and in our society.”
Taylor, a black, 29-year-old healthcare worker, was shot and killed by police officers after they rushed into her home to search for drugs. Kenneth Walker, Taylor’s boyfriend, said he heard the unidentified officers break into the home and thought it was a home invasion, so he fired a warning shot. Officers returned fire and shot Taylor eight times. No drugs were found in the home.
One officer from the raid has been fired from the Louisville Police Department, and none have been charged.
