On the Ground in Louisville
Photographer Jarrett Robertson captures the scene in louisville, kentucky, following the Heartbreaking announcement That No Officers will be charged for the murder of Breonna Taylor
“Breonna Taylor’s family members led a march that they wanted to be peaceful because kids and older people were there,” Robertson says. “Everybody walked by this group of police, and then the marchers were flash-banged on the next block.” Photography by Jarrett Robertson.
On September 23, New York City-based street photographer and videographer Jarrett Robertson stood in front of the press tent in Jefferson Square Park. He and hundreds of others—reporters, family, friends, and supporters from around the country—had gathered to hear the announcement from Kentucky’s attorney general, Daniel Cameron regarding charges in the case involving 26-year-old Breonna Taylor, who was murdered by Louisville police officers in her apartment on March 13, 2020.
“Family, friends, and community leaders were there, and everyone was listening to the verdict over the speakers,” Robertson says, referring to Cameron’s announcement that one police officer would be charged, not in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor, but with endangering her neighbors with reckless gunfire. “When it came, some people started screaming. Others started crying. Every woman I could see just broke down. They’d fought so hard for months. They sacrificed so much, and their voices weren’t heard.”
“This woman helped to organize the Breonna Taylor memorial. Initially, she looked hopeful that justice would be served,” says Robertson. “But after the announcement, she broke down.” Photography by Jarrett Robertson.
Since the murder of George Floyd on June 9, 2020, at the hands of police officers in Minneapolis, Robertson has traveled to Black Lives Matter protests around the country with his camera. The scene in the Louisville press tent that day left him feeling despair. “I felt that justice had not been served, and the officers had found a way to cheat the system and not pay for the crime that was committed,” he says.
“When it came, some people started screaming. Others started crying. Every woman I could see just broke down. They’d fought so hard for months.”
For three days, he walked the streets of Louisville and spent time in Jefferson Square Park where supporters had created a memorial to Taylor with photographs and flowers and paintings. “It’s ground zero for the community here,” he explains. “That’s where people hold their ceremonies and pay their respects and come to show their support.”
Kentucky is an open-carry state, and protestors were armed. “But everyone was so welcome and loving,” Robertson says. “It didn’t frighten me to be around a group of armed community members. I felt more anxiety and fear when the police entered. It was such a stark contrast between love and hate.”
Almost immediately after the announcement on September 23, protestors took to the streets, and many were subsequently arrested. “Police formed a square around the first group of people who were marching, and started grabbing people and throwing them down and arresting them. I escaped by the skin of my teeth.”
Officers continued to square up in a crowd-control technique called “kettling” during protests for days. “A lot of the streets were closed with concrete barricades. It felt like a war zone,” he says. “In addition to the LMPD police, there were military police and white militia throughout the city.”
A protestor holds up her sign in front of state police positioned around the corner from the court, and adjacent to Breonna Taylor’s memorial. Photography by Jarrett Robertson.
“Everyone was so welcoming and loving. It didn’t frighten me to be around a group of armed community members. I felt more anxiety and fear when the police entered. It was such a stark contrast between love and hate.”
Officers used flash-bangs (stun grenades designed to disorient people with noise and light) to control the crowd. “They made a sound like bombs going off,” Robertson says. “It felt like they were trying to create chaos.”
During his three days in Louisville, he witnessed scenes he thought would only occur in countries with militaries fighting one another. “Every time we were circled by police or they ambushed us with flash bangs or fired pepper bullets, I felt like they had no regard for protestors or the press or for anyone who wasn’t a police officer,” he says. “Seeing how people are treated by authorities who are supposed to protect us is traumatic.”
Funds permitting, Robertson plans to travel with his camera to Atlanta, and then to Portland, Oregon, to document the latest struggles between police and activists. “Police are constantly evolving in the way they’re able to suppress the voices trying to be heard,” he says. “It seems like there’s a large amount of funds going to the police system, allowing them to constantly have new artillery. We shouldn’t be seeing war tanks patrolling the streets in our own community.”
He notes that the activists involved in the Black Lives Matter movement aren’t making absurd demands of police and government officials. “They just want basic equal human rights to be shown to every race in America. They’re trying to end a race war—not start one.”
Click through the full slideshow below for more scenes from the past week in Louisville. Photography and on the ground reporting by Jarrett Robertson.
