Say Her Name

 



October 16, 2020

Say Her Name

My first overnight stop on my twisty journey home was in Louisville, Kentucky. I made it a point to stop there in particular and I wanted to stay downtown. I was able to find an excellent Holiday Inn Express right downtown only a couple of blocks from the area that I really wanted to visit, Jefferson Square Plaza. This area has been the site of nightly protests that we have been watching closely via various media outlets. In addition to being the summer of Covid-19, this summer has seen a renewed social outcry against systemic racism and the continual poor treatment of black citizens at the hands of some overzealous, aggressive and just plain criminal police officers around the nation.

 

The death of George Floyd in Minneapolis really was the spark that ignited hundreds of thousands to take to the street in cities across the country to protest the seemingly incessant acts of brutality that almost universally go unpunished and often ignored by much of our society. These things seem to happen over and over and people are demanding justice. In Louisville the tragic case of Breona Taylor, a young woman who was shot to death in her own apartment as police served a no-knock warrant seeking a former boyfriend.

 

The facts of the case are of course in dispute, but once again there has been no justice for Ms. Taylor and another black person has died at the hands of the police using questionable tactics. I don’t want to get into the politics of this horror, but I think everyone can agree that this woman’s tragic death was unnecessary and a breakdown of the very system that is designed to protect citizens.

After watching night after night of mostly peaceful ongoing protests, I wanted to see the spot where a memorial has been set up in downtown Louisville. It was a creepy scene downtown while I was there, almost every building is boarded up, as if a hurricane was coming. There was hardly anyone around while I was there but the memorial was there and it looked as if organizers were prepared for more protests, though no activity was happening while I was there.

I totally support the peaceful protesters who are justified in demanding justice. That does not preclude me from also supporting what I believe are the vast majority of decent law enforcement officers who are not committing crimes. Unlike what many seem to feel, I think the two sides are not mutually exclusive. I do not support violent looters and those who take advantage of the protests. Criminals should be apprehended and punished be they violent looters or police officers who exceed their authority and mandate and commit violence against those they encounter.  Equal justice for all.

 

 

While in Louisville and before hitting the road, I also wanted to check out Cave Hill Cemetery where one of my personal heroes, Muhammad Ali is buried. As fate would have it another famous Kentuckian, Col. Saunders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame is buried in the same cemetery so I was able to see his grave as well. The place is a beautiful final resting place for all those who are interred there and it was a beautiful, quiet fall day to visit.

 

It also made for a perfect day to drive and I headed across the state into Tennessee to Gatlinburg where I would enter the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. If I thought Nashville, Indiana was crowded, Gatlinburg was totally insane. It took me a good 45 minutes to drive about three miles across town and once again, the vast majority of the massive crowds seemed more interested in the shlocky commercialism that is Gatlinburg rather than the serene beauty of the National Park.

The park didn’t seem crowded at all, especially once you got past the first visitor center. I stopped numerous times to check out the beauty of the natural setting and to take a few short hikes so that I could be totally immersed and alone in the forest. It was s special and was a balm for all the bad news and tragedy that seems to have been so central to this year.

I spent the majority of the afternoon and early evening in the park, stopping to spend the night in Cherokee, North Carolina, so that I could easily get back into the park early the next morning and continue my adventure. It was just a splendid day all to myself immersed in the beauty of the deciduous forest in the early fall, such a joyous experience.