Your Privileged Point of View Misses the Real Point
By: Farrah Alexander
Tags: Racial Justice, Politics, Protest, Activism, BlackLivesMatter

Here in Louisville, Ky., our Fox news affiliate has a long-standing tradition of broadcasting an editorial Point of View segment. Instead of featuring one of the city’s op-ed writers from the Pultizer Prize-winning Courier-Journal or maybe someone with intimate knowledge of the topical issues being discussed, they pass the mic to the much-needed voice of the people — an old, rich white dude.

Dale Woods, President and General Manager of the station, gets several minutes of airtime to discuss whatever issue he considers most pressing. Usually, it’s some real old man yells at cloud stuff like, “The DMV lines are too long!” But often it’s a right-wing talking point made more palatable for a primetime audience.

Most recently, he offered a “tongue-in-cheek look at Jefferson Square Park’s new image” in which he described driving past, seeing tents set up and allegedly trash. He expressed dismay that the city would allow this as he looked for a KOA campground sign. [What a knee-slapper.] Then of course to drive home some Fox News rhetoric, he made some comments about tax dollars, yadda, yadda. Here it is:

What he didn’t mention at all was that this has been the site that protestors demanding justice for Breonna Taylor have been occupying for nearly 200 days and counting. He didn’t mention that protestors have been outraged by the loss of the 26-year-old essential worker who served our community in a local emergency room during a pandemic. He didn’t mention the miscarriage of justice in the case, the corruption by the local police force, the police brutality in response to protests of police brutality.

If he would have bothered to get out of his car, he may have seen that no one is “roasting marshmallows” because some of the tents shelter the houseless of which the city has many. Protestors have had the audacity to realize they are not an eyesore — they are people trying to survive. Look even closer and you’ll see a community garden growing, which provides fresh veggies to the food insecure in the community. In the square, the houseless are given food, shelter, dignity, and respect.

I understand this may be a wild concept to someone who sees “trash” instead of the truth. Could Mr. Woods be so glib he actually mistook the memorials for Breonna, David McAtee, Tyler Gerth, and Travis Nagdy — all of whom have been tragically killed since the protests began — as… trash?

The truth is if he bothered to walk into the square, he may have seen what I captured one random afternoon.

This is the scene Mr. Woods described as a trashy campsite. You can see a tent set up for community resources, a vast memorial full of original artwork for Breonna Taylor, and — oh! What’s that? Someone literally sweeping debris at the square to keep the area neat and tidy. If he dared to speak to anyone at the square, he would learn that the people there take great pride and ownership over what they built.

To erase Breonna Taylor from the conversation and completely dismiss why anyone is at the square is beyond willful ignorance when Mr. Woods also justifies his displeasure with stereotypical racial tropes (trash, property damage, tax dollars wasted, for example). To focus his ire on being confronted with racial injustice instead of the racial injustice itself during this historical reckoning time is beyond insensitive. His comments are repulsive and offensive to both Breonna Taylor’s legacy and those relentlessly fighting in her name.

The only trash here is Mr. Wood’s Point of View.