After nights of protest, Louisville is hurting. Where does the city go from here?

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Our city is hurting.

And it's not just evident in the shattered windows or the dozens of buildings tagged with spray-paint graffiti and anti-police messages.

It can be heard in the voices of college students and seasoned activists, of religious leaders and law enforcement, of civic directors and politicians. They all are hurting from the past four days of demonstrations and peaceful protests that turned violent.

They acknowledge a deep divide between many of Louisville's black and white residents and communities. And all told The Courier Journal on Sunday it's time for the entire city to acknowledge its issues and forge ahead in unity.

But how?

And what happens next?

Where does Louisville go from here? This is what community leaders, members have to say

By about 7 p.m. Sunday, uncertainty lingered in the air.

About 1,000 protesters had gathered on various streets and sidewalks downtown, watched closely by city officers, Kentucky State Police and members of the Kentucky National Guard.

A rare curfew was to take effect at 9 p.m. and is to end Monday morning. A decision will be made later in the day if it will be extended.

Sunday updates:Louisville rallies again after arrests at Saturday Breonna Taylor protests

The emotions and frustrations that have been building for weeks in response to the March death of Breonna Taylor, an unarmed black woman killed in a hail of bullets from LMPD, will not evaporate overnight.

And while demonstrations are expected to continue with a focus on alleged police brutality and accountability, many community leaders across the civic spectrum say systematic changes — from health care and economic equity to food access and criminal justice fairness — are needed to truly put people of color on equal footing.

After four nights of protests that often turned violent — with businesses looted, crowd members shot and tear gas thrown through the streets — The Courier Journal spoke with more than a dozen people about what should happen now that these issues have erupted.

The question was simple: Where does Louisville go from here?

The answers, of course, are far more difficult.

'Not us versus them'

Antigone Mehani said the answer isn't rocket science.

The community organizer, who works with immigrants and refugees, said the key to finding a resolution is first listening to and acknowledging the problem.

"That's the reason why we're having this protest happening," Mehani said. "There's been a call but no answer" from Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer and other city officials in regards to starting a conversation about Taylor's death.

"It's not us versus them," she added.

"I think that's what's happening right now with our current political leadership. ... They're not acknowledging that it's just 'they,' it's 'us.' This is about our community."

Fischer, at a news conference Sunday, said issues that have arisen after Taylor's death "cannot be left undiscussed," and the city must look to people with grievances to help develop structures that address them.

"But at the end of the day, we have to come together and understand each other's perspective to get better as a community," he said.

Mehani said finding avenues to come together will be difficult while the city is still in the heat of the moment.

It also will be difficult amid the coronavirus pandemic. That global health crisis that has killed at least 104,000 Americans exploded in early March and shut down the region's economy, shuttered businesses, schools and churches and changed lives, thrusting all of us essentially into social isolation. 

"I think, unfortunately, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was a perfect storm," said Dr. Muhammad Babar, a physician with the University of Louisville. "Unfortunately, this thing which should have been our first priority, it was on the back burner."

Babar is president of the local nonprofit Doctors for Healthy Communities. And the group has donated supplies and gift cards to Louisville Metro Police during the outbreak.

But he disagrees with the department's use of a "no-knock" warrant on the night Taylor was killed. And he said it's time to reflect as a city on changing the culture of law enforcement, so that there's a "relationship of mutual respect between the community and police, rather than this aura of power on one side and aura of helplessness on the other side."

"If we fail to address these issues in our society, then something else is going to happen in a couple of years, and it will be restarted," he said.

To begin, Babar and others said, the city needs to create a plan by bringing people of all backgrounds to the same table.

Ryan Nichols, president of the River City Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 614, said a partial plan has already been put in place through the creation of a group charged with recommending civilian oversight of LMPD.

"We support productive talks that produce real change, whatever that change needs to be," Nichols said.

"As we come together, we can find those answers."

'Not the time for weakness'

The Rev. David Snardon of Joshua Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church isn't as confident that coming together will create longterm change.

That's because Fischer and police leaders have not held the department accountable for actions taken in Taylor's death, he said.

"There will be a symbolism of change and transformation that will help defuse the anger of the people," Snardon predicted. "But it won't be enough to really bring about peace.

"If you bring about a solution without ever talking about what was wrong or the confession of the thing, then you're still really hiding the problem."

Read more:Breonna Taylor protesters question police tactics used prior to Louisville's curfew time

Voices of the protests:What Breonna Taylor demonstrators are telling our reporters

Snardon said it takes courage to tell the truth. "I don't know if this administration or if people as a whole can stomach the truth," he said. "It's much easier to skip over that and then say, 'We're not going to point fingers, let's just focus on a solution.'"

State Rep. Attica Scott, of Louisville, attended Friday's protest, where she said she was pushed by an LMPD officer and hit with tear gas.

The first thing that needs to change, she said at a Sunday news conference, is the city's budget, which is "heavily weighted toward law enforcement."

"That means your taxpayer dollars are being given to people who abuse you, who assault you. And we cannot and will not stand for it," she said.

"If Mayor Fischer cannot lead the city of Louisville," she added, "he needs to leave his position so someone else can lead us. Because now is not the time for weakness from our elected officials."

'We can do better' 

Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz said the short-term step is to get swift justice for Taylor, a 26-year-old ER technician who was killed in her apartment during a raid.

The bigger push — changing hearts — is tougher, he said. That will involve broadening opportunities for young people, strengthening families and battling racism in all its forms.

Kurtz said he walked around downtown after the protests and saw the devastation up close. As much as he decries the violence and damage, “I worry that (it) will serve a stumbling block path (to healing and) genuine listening. We have to keep our focus on peaceful demonstrators.”

All of what’s happened with the coronavirus crisis and the deaths of Taylor and George Floyd in Minneapolis, he said, should inspire us to ask, “What kind of community do we want to live in? In good times and bad, we have to call out the best in people.”

Civic and community leaders agreed, saying there’s no time to waste in acting to address the underlying problems that sparked the four days of violence and destruction.

Ed Glasscock, a businessman and lawyer, said the city needs to convene a task force of community and political leaders to evaluate what’s happened here and across the country and devise “recommendations on how we can improve things.”

And Greater Louisville Inc., the metro chamber of commerce, has already begun conversations about how the business community can address the systemic issues that “have brought us to this point," said Sarah Davasher-Wisdom, GLI’s president and chief executive officer.

Sandra Frazier, a businesswoman and University of Louisville trustee, said this is a moment where people have to ask themselves if they're willing to address the "urgent and core issues of racial equity in our justice system, education and economy."

“A city which prides itself in unifying city and county government cannot ignore we live in a tale of two cities," she said. "Moving forward, we need to worry less about how our community appears and focus more about changing this reality."

Stephen Reily, director of the Speed Art Museum, said he hopes white community and business leaders step up to that challenge.

"I think it's really important that it start with black voices, but then white voices have to become part of it," he said. "This is not the burden of the black community and black leaders to carry this. ... I want to see more white leaders say, 'This is our job, this is our city.' Say, 'This is the problem, and we can do better.'"

'There's more work to be done'

Before the work can begin, though, several protesters and black activists said there must be time for healing.

That's why members of Black Lives Matter Louisville and other local groups joined together Sunday afternoon for a healing ceremony outside the KFC Yum Center, the former site of a slave trading point.

“Healing is important because it indicates something has changed,” faith leader John Randolph told a crowd of about 500. “We need something to change in this country, whether it’s law enforcement, whether it’s just the way we do criminal justice or whether it’s how we regard each individual.”

Many people are hurting, and their collective response has been from a place of anger and grief, said Quintez Brown, a University of Louisville student and Courier Journal contributor.

They need to heal now, he said, then find ways to prevent future tragedies.

"This is a system that we're trying to take down," said classmate Bayley Amburgey, who graduated in May. "We have to remember, this is a greater scheme. There's more work to be done."

And everyone needs to play a role.

Reporters Kirby Adams, Sarah Ladd and Grace Schneider contributed to this report.

Reach reporter Bailey Loosemore at bloosemore@courier-journal.com, 502-582-4646 or on Twitter @bloosemore. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/baileyl.