With Oprah Winfrey taking out 23 Billboards in Kentucky to honor the life of Breonna Taylor an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) - Medic - who had ZERO drugs in her home when it was raided by cops serving a "No Knock Warrant" now made illegal in Kentucky-she thought she was being robbed when her home was broken into and her young life was taken at the hands of Louisville Police Officers. Kentucky is still mourning her death and plans to protest at the Kentucky Derby 2020-Churchill Downs.
The Kentucky Derby was originally supposed to take place the first Saturday in May as it TRADITIONALLY HAS for over 100 years now. However due to Corona Virus fear and shut downs, it chose to reschedule it for September. Now September is here and after a long hot summer of riots and peaceful protests, of candle light vigils and dangerous looting which burned down HUNDREDS of retail stores and restaurants in Minneapolis, New York, Portland, and Chicago-all major PORT CITIES-all of which were to protest racism, and inequality among People of Color in The United States and to get Justice for George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Portland has seen 90 days of STRAIGHT RIOTING-Washington D.C. has seen peaceful protests and rioting, Louisville, Kentucky the home of Churchill Downs has seen violence erupt in it's cities protesting.
So it could not be considered anything less then adding gasoline to the fire - when Churchill Downs made the decision to keep the very racist "My Old Kentucky Home" song as the opening song for the Kentucky Derby-adding to it a moment of silence. The reasoning behind keeping the song-despite it's very RACIST nature, and the fact that it will turn the ire of the protestors and stroke the fires of the protests, or riots depending on the mood that day, but it is rumored many will be armed-instead of protesting the death of Breonna Taylor - which up until recent decisions made by Churchill Downs to keep the racist song-will now turn the protestors directly AT Churchill Downs, instead of at the police and justice system who called the shots leading to the issuing of the No Knock warrant and the police who were "just following orders" killed Breonna Taylor - an innocent by stander- after her home was raided.
Link to original lyrics of "My Old Kentucky Home"
By "Thoughtfully and Appropriately modified" they mean they took out the VERY RACIST and discriminatory word "Darkies" that is in the original song many, many times and was only modified as recently as 1986.
Now add more fuel to the fire with Barclay Tagg, Trainer of "Tiz The Law" this year's favored horse at the Kentucky Derby-boldly stating that "they are allowed to shoot us and we are not allowed to shoot them." Once again-making it about HORSE RACING when it was about Breonna Taylor, these protestors are not from Horse Racing Wrongs there to protest the deaths on the track, it wasn't us vs them the ONLY mentality Horse Racing Insiders seem to understand. It was an outside protest that had they kept their head downs would not have effected them, but they chose to throw caution to the wind and stand DIRECTLY IN THE FIRE!
To Clarify I am not sure who Us or Them is - in Barclay Tagg's statement, but we will go with the Protestors and the Horse Trainers/Owners and Churchill Downs board who made the decision to keep the Racist song-because TRADITION. They chose to ignore TRADITION when they changed the date from the First Saturday in May as they have done for over 100 years now, and they CHOSE to ignore TRADITION when they banned all fans from coming to the Kentucky Derby for the First time EVER-but instead of reading the room and finding a new song to sing, perhaps inviting someone from Breonna Taylors family or a local celebrity to bring unity to both sides and perhaps diffuse the situation-they chose to pour gasoline on it, and ADD the Breonna Taylor Protestors TO the Horse Racing Wrongs Protestors and just piss everyone off- to hell with reading the room because - TRADITION!
SO that all makes no sense to me. I agree with Barclay Tagg in that "I Don't want my people hurt, I don't want myself hurt and I don't want my horse hurt." I'd add to it, I don't want ANY people hurt, I don't want ANY horses hurt, and I'd like to see Justice for Whomever issued the No Knock warrant for Breonna Taylor - and the cops who left the report blank and refused to tell Breonna Taylors Mom she was dead instead asking her "who might have done that to her" when at the time they KNEW it was them that did it.
What happened to Southern Hospitality? I despise Kevin Spacey, but he had a great line with- "I know you may despise me, but the polite thing to do would be to at least invite me in for tea." For whatever reason, Churchill Downs was selected as the venue for these protests. If a Southern Belle ran the place she would pour sweet tea and Mint Juleps for the 21 and up protestors. She would offer them beer cheese and hot pretzels, bourbon balls, country ham biscuits, an entire spread of the best Kentucky has to offer, along with a Red Rose of condolence to commemorate the loss of Breonna Taylor, it is the Race For The Roses after all, and handing roses out to everyone in her memory would bring peace and unity to the crowd. Break bread with them, sympathize with the loss. Forget the TRADITION of singing "My Old Kentucky Home" a Minstrel ballad once performed in black face about the sad plight of a married man being plucked from his kids and his wife at his Kentucky Plantation off to a new one never to see them again. Why anyone thinks that is appropriate for a horse race I have no idea, it is sad and grim. People watch sports to get away from the sad and grim. But now it is not only tone deaf it is down right inflammatory, degrading and completely insulting not just to the protestors but to those who want to see peace and end this rioting. It just fans the flames. If you want to protect TRADITION - cancel the derby and reschedule it for the First Day in May- TRADITION has no business running the Derby in September. If you want TRADITION - let the fans back in. Clearly this is not about TRADITION when every other Tradition once held sacred to Kentucky Derby fans has been shattered without regard for the fans and participants thoughts and feelings.
They say behind every successful man is a successful woman-perhaps that is what went wrong with Churchill Downs. They could use a woman's touch- to soften the rough edges that society no longer finds fashionable let alone tolerable.
Now let's look at the comment made by Barclay Tagg-"they can shoot at us we can't shoot at them." Well he is not talking about the Horse Racing Wrongs protestors because they come unarmed, so he must be talking about the Breonna Taylor Protestors. Last I heard they are not allowed to shoot anyone either. In fact the Portland shooter, who shot at the Trump supporter, who is allegedly down with Antifa was just killed by the police. The Wisconsin shooter who was attacked and tried to run from those attacking him who he ended up shooting in self defense is also in custody facing charges. It seems as though both sides are seeing themselves facing criminal charges. So just a false statement that did nothing other then pivot the movement straight at Churchill Downs and 2020 Kentucky Derby instead of Kentucky Law Enforcement. Silly of him at best. Provocative at it's worst.
Now we look at the fact they are pressuring the Black Owner of a Kentucky Derby Contender named "Necker Island" a man whose family has been in horse racing for generations who is a celebration of Black Success IN America- who should be celebrated as a LEGEND by Black Lives Matter-is being told to sit this one out- like the NBA and NFL boycotts. The NFL and NBA can boycott because their entire life ambition has not led up to just ONE GAME- there are MANY, MANY games in basketball, and even the championship games in the NBA have many, many games before someone wins the FINAL championship game. Horse racing has THREE races that make up the Triple Crown and the Kentucky Derby is one of them, if you sit it out you will NEVER win a Triple Crown. Along with winning the Kentucky Derby comes breeding rights which could be the difference between making and breaking his family farm. Far more rides on just one ride in the Kentucky Derby then a game in the NFL and the NFL has many other players boycotting the event, which in turn with POSTPONE the championship-horse racing has ONE GUY - ONE BLACK OWNER - ONLY and him sitting it out would throw the competition to the white trainers he is competing against, and their horses will have money and bragging rights which translate to breeding rights which equal MONEY to sustain the family business ALL GENERATED FROM ONE RACE! To sit this one race out would be to give up his ENTIRE livelihood-instead of becoming a LEGEND for future black horse man or those just watching for the first time to aspire too. Someone who could end up in the Horse Racing Hall of Fame-and make history books-simply by just participating-all things that bring great honor to his accomplishments-and show others the road to success-not just in horse racing but anything you put your minds life and work into. A role model for young black men to look up to. Don't take this honor from him-due to a summer of protests he waited his entire life for this moment. Let him shine, let him speak-let him be the light without stealing his glory and his livelihood-why can't they co-exist? Why did Churchill Downs have to make the decision that much harder for this man by not simply 86'ing the Racist "My Kentucky Home" Song? Why doesn't Churchill Downs hire a Southern Belle to handle public relations? Why must it always be the horseman who inevitably at EVERY.SINGLE.TURN and opportunity do the EXACT opposite of what they should be doing?
If you are following my wording I am calling them "Breonna Taylor" Protests NOT "Black Lives Matter" protests. I am doing this INTENTIONALLY. Words matter. I saw on Twitter a statement-"Black Lives Matter" is a sentence NOT an organization.
Let me state it again "Black Lives Matter is a sentence" not an Organization. Black lives DO matter- All LIVES Matter, all animal lives matter. Now BLM the Organization that co-opted itself like a parasite on the organic street uprisings that took place after George Floyd was killed by a police officer with his knee on his neck- Antifa links now link to the Joe Biden/Kamala Harris campaign. They have taken credit now for the uprisings and put their name on all of it. Yet it was never their uprising, just like Hurricane Harvey rescues never belonged to the Cajun Navy they just came in and "took control" of the movement and put their name and website on it- although they were not the original members.
These movements become co-opted, like when the college students protested at Kent University-they were legit and people listened to them, so they sent in paid hippies - complete freaks who smelled like piccouli oil who worked for the military-to come in and make everyone who thought like they did Anti Vietnam war, look like a dirty stinking piccouli smelling freak-not a clean cut educated young man or woman-who would have held a following.
So all organic uprisings get infiltrated and taken over by the government. That is how Black Lives Matter went from a sentence to an organization with a fake sense of entitlement to the riots and the organic movement that could have been instigated by them from the very beginning with the alleged staging of the death of George Floyd.
Either way-like I am against the Cajun Navy and all other government organized Psy Ops- I do not like what Black Lives Matter has morphed into the "biden/kamala" fest. Kamala Harris bragged about sending many black men to jail for marijuana charges - a drug now legal - in Kamala Harris state of California where she was once a criminal prosecutor sending these men directly to jail herself. How did she become the leader of the anti police movement?
If Trump was smarter then he is, he would have went downstairs into his bunker and wrote and executive order legalizing marijuana. He could have hit the Federal government up for their stash of green and started handing out joints to everyone who was there in anger, he could have had them state their concerns, and showed them that Kamala Harris would gladly lock them up for the joint he just rolled them, instead of saying "Looters get shooters" he could have issued executive orders to make sure those who were hit the hardest by the Corona virus lockdowns, those ALREADY evicted, had diapers and food. He could have mandated we DON'T shutdown restaurants and businesses, so nobody lost their job and all could buy their own diapers, he could have used the national guard to go out into the streets and hand out water, diapers and food instead of pepper spray and rubber bullets before clearing the area so he could take a photo op with his bible.
But who need diplomacy when we can just keep adding gasoline to the fire and watch this country burn along with all of our jobs, businesses and private property? Why should we even bother to come together in peace in unity to save our communities and build a brighter future for all of our children, when we can sow a future of hate and division where everyone of us is under martial law, and a world where we safely eat in restaurants amongst our friends in family free of worries no longer exists.
What has happened to the lost art of Diplomacy? Not just from country to country but from person to person...soul to soul? #OneLove #OpUnity #OpLove XOXO
If I was CEO of Churchill Downs this is what tomorrow would look like...XOXO
If you still need it simplified here you go...let me explain it to you like you are five! #OneLove XOXO
