THE BLM GROUP IN KENTUCKY ISN’T LIKE MOST BLM MOVEMENTS

…Louisville Mayor, Greg Fischer speaking to a local group gathered in memory of Breonna Taylor, killed by the local police.

The Louisville BLM isn’t in line with the global Black Lives Matter movement.

Now, I have been a strong supporters of the Black Lives Matter, (BLM), movement.  But, recently I heard about a BLM group in Kentucky, and a group of Cubans that had years ago settled in Louisville, Kentucky.  Many of these Cubans had recently denounced this local splinter group of Black Lives Matter activists.  Their claim was that they had left Cuba due to the government controls under the Castro Regime.  But the demands of this BLM activist group was more in-line with a Cuban Mafia than a real BLM movement.

After more investigation, I have to agree that the Louisville BLM isn’t in line with what I know about the real Black Lives Matter movement.

The lists of demands from the Louisville BLM group does sound more like a true Mafia-type organization, than what I would have imagined would come from the real BLM movement.

Just follow me on this list of the Louisville BLM demands on the local Cuban businesses, and see if you agree:

• Local business owners must increase the percentage of black people on their staff to 23% or more,
• Business must purchase at least 23% of inventory from black retailers or donate 1.5% of new sales to “Black Local Organizations.”
• Businesses must implement diversity training.
• Business owners should also acknowledge that black people were harmed when they were displaced because of changes in parts of the local downtown decades ago.
• Unless owners complied by Aug. 17, BLM activists had planned to post negative reviews and social media posts about the business owners.

This list was according to the local TV station WDRB, which published a photograph of these demands.

On this August 2^nd, some Cubans and other community members in Louisville gathered in a rally to denounce these tactics used by the Black Lives Matter activists in Louisville.  Some of the local Cuban immigrants described the BLM demands as similar to the methods of pressure used by the Castro regime.

“These activists should be ashamed of themselves,” said Fernando Martinez at the rally.  Fernando is a Cuban immigrant who owns a local Louisville restaurant, La Bodeguita de Mima.

Ahamara Brewster, a leader of the Revolutionary Black Panther Party, attended the rally in support of the Cuban-American community.  “The list of demands is unethical,” Ms. Brewster told reporters. “That’s not how you handle business. If you want help from someone, there’s a way of going about it, being diplomatic about it. But you don’t threaten anybody.”

However, some businesses later posted their agreement that their businesses, “had played a part in the harm done to the town’s original black residents”.  The posts said some local citizens were denied job opportunities, “by the supposed respectable people who destroyed their black community.”

Lauren Justice, co-owner of Nouvelle Bar & Bottle, told the Louisville, Courier-Journal newspaper, in an email, that she and other business owners were responsible for responding to the group’s demands.

“As owners of Nouvelle, we realize we could and should have been doing more and we are trying to do better,” she said. “We know there’s a lot more work to be done and that a long-term commitment is what it takes to make sustainable change.”

However, Ms. Lisa Kahl-Hillerich, who owns Roxy Nell, told the paper she thinks her business is already inclusive and she doesn’t appreciate activists issuing demands without first consulting with the business owners.

Black Lives Matter Louisville didn’t immediately respond to a request by another newspaper for comment.  However, it became known that this local BLM organization is not an official chapter of the Black Lives Matter Global Network.

As Mr. Martinez spoke at the rally, someone in the crowd held a sign that said: “We left Cuba because of socialism. Be careful what you wish for.”

Martinez on Facebook has rightly compared the demands to “mafia tactics,” and after Martinez spoke out, a group of local BLM protesters reportedly went to his restaurant.  While there, a protester broke a container with a large plant.  “People calling me names haven’t taken the time to get to know me”, Martinez said, adding, “How can I be called a bigot and a racist when my family is black? When my son is gay?”

These local Cubans oppose any demands, because they had escaped an oppressive socialist country.  But they don’t oppose the local black community, Martinez stressed.

“La Bodeguita is open to everybody,” Martinez said. “If you’re gay, this is your home. If you’re black, this is your home. If you’re white, this is your home. If you’re human, this is your home.”

Sadiqa Reynolds, president and CEO of the Louisville Urban League, said on social media that she disagreed with Martinez’s methods.

“Some business owners have responded to say, we understand your hurt but we were not part of the back then local plans.  We can’t meet your demands, but you do have a point and we can improve,” she wrote.  “We all must be a part of the solution. While we can appreciate disagreeing with your tactic or strategy, to organize against the sentiment is unacceptable".  

"Mr. Martinez seems to be aligned with a message that the BLM movement is a socialist danger threatening this nation,” Reynolds added.

Two of the local Black Lives Matter movement’s founders have since described themselves as “trained Marxists,” or adherents to that far-left ideology.

“I will not support a business owner who aligns with the Black Lives Matter movement with the destruction of America or tells white people trying to be responsive to ‘take their white guilt’ somewhere else,” Ms. Reynolds said.

This is an interesting and confusing set of circumstances that I feel will probably not end on a positive note.  Even if there were those that did not treat the local blacks properly decades ago, it makes no sense to have a group make demands on today’s local businesses as is stated by this BLM movement.

If this project keeps going forward, this will not end well and the real Black Lives Matter global movement needs to get involved with this operation in Louisville.

Copyright G. Ater 2020