With stunning cynicism, Cameron talks justice while Breonna Taylor’s killers remain free.
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron gave a pretty effective speech at the Republic National Convention on Tuesday night; he shredded Joe Biden for the inexcusable “you ain’t Black gaffe,” and highlighted Americans’ shared values over our differences, all while giving cover to a president who openly supports and espouses white supremacy.
That kind of verbal dexterity bolsters the popular belief in Cameron’s bright political future, either as Kentucky governor, or as successor to his mentor, Sen. Mitch McConnell. Now he’s receiving national plaudits. But if you live in Kentucky and see his speech through the lens of what’s going on in Louisville and other places in the country, Cameron displays an astonishing amount of irony or cynicism or both.
Because here in Kentucky, Cameron has a real job beyond making white Republicans feel less racist. Here in Kentucky, he’s supposed to be investigating Breonna Taylor’s killers so due process can begin, and here in Kentucky, he has so far failed to do so. Breonna Taylor was shot and killed by Louisville police on March 13 when they entered her apartment with a no-knock warrant. Her boyfriend fired a shot at the intruders; they opened fire and killed Taylor.
So for example, when Cameron addressed what we all want in this country, for our children to achieve more than we do, and the idea that “if you play by the rules, you can make a good life for yourself and your family,” I thought of Taylor.
Breonna Taylor played by the rules. She went to college. She had a job as an EMT. She still ended up dead from a plague of police violence against Black people that whites wouldn’t believe until the advent of cell phone videos that would no longer allow that denial.
“Even as anarchists mindlessly tear up American cities while attacking police and innocent bystanders, we Republicans do work in good faith toward peace, justice, and equality,” Cameron said.
It took a little while for the word to get out about her death at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, but since that time, Louisville has been the site of largely peaceful protests, full of folks of all ages, colors and backgrounds who are no longer willing to watch our public servants kill unarmed Black people. Cameron knows this because some of these people have come to protest at his Louisville house, including retirees, nuns, dangerous folks like that who were cited by police. Two other innocent people were killed in Louisville, one allegedly by a National Guardsman, the other by a mentally ill man carrying a gun.
Yes, there has been some violence, but compared to the hundreds of cities where Black Lives Matter protests have been held, the idea of “anarchists,” or “antifa,” are just Republican boogeymen brought up by President Trump to help his flailing campaign. As Politifact reported, “a review of demonstrations in five major cities found that all of the protests started with violence, but then became largely peaceful.”
That’s been true in Louisville, said Rep. Attica Scott, who has been on the ground in downtown Louisville for much of the summer. This past weekend, she said, the Louisville police wasted millions of dollars, shutting down public transportation and issuing breathless warnings about possible violence.
“It’s as if that’s what they want to happen,” she told me. “The protesters are protesting, they are not rioting.”
Or we can talk about violence, violence in Lafayette Park or in Portland, where a strange amalgam of federal officers tear-gassed and shot rubber bullets at protesters. Or in Kenosha, Wisc. on Tuesday night, where two people were killed protesting police who shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back, leaving him paralyzed. On Wednesday, an armed 17-year-old from Illinois was arrested in the deaths of two protesters. Far-right groups battling with protesters are in fact the cause of some of the violence making Fox viewers swoon.
Protest is the most American of rights. It’s how the Civil Rights Movement made Cameron more than a second class citizen in this country. But if he wants it to stop in Louisville, there’s a simple solution: Finish the investigation of Breonna Taylor’s death. As journalist Wesley Lowery noted on Wednesday: “A century of commissions and studies and reports would suggest that the best ways to stop rioting would be 1. for the police to stop killing black people.”
Then there was this gem: “Republicans will never turn a blind eye to unjust acts, but neither will we accept an all out assault on Western civilization.”
I’m not sure what Cameron means by “Western civilization,” but he needs to show us that he’s not turning a blind eye to a very unjust act committed here in his backyard. I understand it’s a difficult needle for him to thread. His only discernible campaign pledge was fealty to the police, which makes it difficult to call them to account. Cameron’s bright future could be shadowed by missteps in this case. But he’s had time to investigate, he’s had time to strategize, he’s had time to speechify. Stop turning a blind eye and bring Breonna Taylor’s killers to justice.
This story was originally published August 26, 2020 at 2:31 PM.
