A compilation of six decades of protest portraits show why we need abolition to end police violence on civilians. It’s not just notable victims like Breonna Taylor.
By Anna Blake, Scalawag
It’s hard to believe only—and somehow, already—two years have passed since Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison, and Myles Cosgrove forced themselves, in plainclothes with a no-knock warrant, into the apartment on Elliot Ave in Louisville where they shot and killed 26-year-old Breonna Taylor.
News of her murder spread exponentially, eventually coming to a fever pitch following the murder of George Floyd two months later, some 700 miles away in Minneapolis. Suddenly, our city, once only known for horses, bourbon, and disco balls, became a hotbed of protests as activists and communities across the city gathered calling for justice for Breonna Taylor.
None of us bore witness to the negligent and violent events that took place in those early morning hours of March 13, 2020, but we don’t have to: Photographs taken in Louisville during the protests of 2020 reveal to us the fascist nature of the police state we live in.
Filmmaker and activist Susan Sontag, in her 1977 collection of essays On Photography, claims that “to take a picture is to have an interest in things as they are, in the status quo remaining unchanged.”
Recent Posts
AI Doesn’t Need ‘Superintelligence’ or Evil Intent to Start a Nuclear War
Take Action Now Neither extraordinary machine intelligence nor malicious intent is required for catastrophe to result.By Paul Slovic and Herbert…
30 Months After Uproar Over Jonathan Glazer’s Oscar Speech, What Do His Pro-Israel Denouncers Say Now?
Take Action Now Given all that has happened, I recently contacted some signers of the open letter to ask whether they still fully believe in its…
Midterms Have Revived Universal Healthcare Debate. These States Are Ahead of Everyone.
Take Action Now States have often served as laboratories to test health policies later implemented nationally.By Markian Hawryluk, KFF Health……
Nobel Peace Prize Turns Toward Peace in 2026
Take Action Now To have finally acknowledged someone whose work in any way addressed the horrors of Zionism is an encouraging sign from the Nobel…