Louisville Political Education for Liberation

March 13, 2020, Breonna Taylor, a Louisville EMT, was shot to death in the middle of the night in her home by cops serving an improperly devised “no-knock” warrant. There was no reason for the warrant, no reason for the arrest, no reason for Breonna to die. In response, Louisville residents who’d had all the unaccountable-police narrative they could stomach, took to the streets.

Over the next few months, Louisville police, Kentucky State Police and Kentucky National Guard would all be involved, wielding weapons of war, dressed in riot gear and driving armored trucks known as BEARCATS. They would harrass protesters, put snipers on the roofs of downtown buildings, bulldoze a peaceful banquet intended to create goodwill in a nearby commercial area. Over the months, more people would die and hundreds would be arrested for peaceful protests.

Protestors made their home base at Jefferson Square Park, a downtown park surrounded by Metro Hall, Metro Corrections and LMPD. They called it Injustice Square, or sometimes Breeway. It was, said one writer, “the beating heart of the Breonna Taylor protest movement.”

For months, they occupied the park and kept vigil for Breonna, waiting for justice that didn’t come.

Recognizing the surge of new people coming out to challenge police brutality and racial injustice, leaders of the movement began to discern needs for understanding. “What are my rights when I’m arrested?” “What is a ‘consent decree’?” “How is this protest in this place related to the larger reality of economic and racial injustice in the US?”

So, they started teaching; and Louisville Political Education for Liberation came into being.