DOZENS DEMAND JUSTICE FOR TAYLOR IN PROTEST
Activists upset officers not held accountable for woman’s death
NORFOLK — Dozens of activists called out Breonna Taylor’s name Wednesday night before taking to the streets of Norfolk to call for justice.
“The only thing we can do is continue to fight at this point because I’m telling you — don’t be surprised when you wake up tomorrow or the next day and somebody is dead at the hands of the cops,” Angie Day, an organizer from The Underground 1865,
LLC, told the crowd as they stood in Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park.
The protest was a collaboration between two groups based in Hampton Roads — Black Lives Matter 757 and The Underground 1865, LLC — after a Kentucky grand jury decided not to pursue charges against any officers for their role in Taylor’s death.
A former Louisville Metro Police Department officer — Brett Hankison — was charged with three counts of wanton endangerment in connection to the March 13 police raid of Taylor’s home, but the charges against him stemmed from shots fired into neighboring apartments, according to an Associated Press report.
“We know we need people to speak out. With George Floyd, it took every state to protest for them to arrest those cops,” Day said.
Day said that even though the officers in Taylor’s case won’t face criminal charges, protesters want them all to be fired from the Louisville Metro Police Department.
Two officers — Jonathan Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove — who were cleared of criminal charges Wednesday are still facing a Professional Standards Unit investigation, according to a report from the Courier Journal.
“They shouldn’t have jobs. They shouldn’t be able to go and do that again,” Day said.
Protesters marched down Brambleton Avenue calling for justice. Police cars closed the intersections — blocking traffic so the activists could march in the streets.
The group marched down Granby Street and by the Waterside District before rallying in the spot where the Confederate monument used to be.
“When the Black Lives Matter movement started, something should have been done, but we have been ignored,” activist Avanti Garedo said. “People think that this is going to be something that just goes away, but it won’t.”
Protesters made a stop at the Norfolk City Jail, where they chanted “Black Lives Matter” as inmates watched from the windows, before marching back to the park.
Dozens of people watched from the sidewalks — many recording as the protesters passed. While some held up a fist in solidarity, few joined the group.
“Off of the curbs and into the streets,” the marchers called.
In an interview with a Virginian-Pilot reporter, Day challenged the people who stood on the curbs filming to join the protesters and fight for justice.
“The more people that we bring in, the more people we can educate, the more people we can motivate and the more people we can liberate,” Day said.