Former aide to Mayor Fischer: ‘Please be you. People are dying’

Sadiqa Reynolds, once one of Mayor Greg Fischer’s top aides, wrote a scathing Facebook post Thursday declaring that her former boss is not the man she once knew and calling on him to “show us that Black lives matter in Louisville.”

“Shut the noise down and do what you know should’ve been done a long time ago. Due process will take care of itself,” the president and CEO of the Louisville Urban League said, appearing to call for the firing of the three officers who shot Breonna Taylor.

“Please be you. People are dying. (Protesters) are in danger. Police are in danger.”

She wrote that she has sat with Fischer “with water in my eyes” but that he had “disrespected my intelligence and wise counsel.”

“He is ill-informed and listening to people who need to protect themselves,” she added. “My children are watching you, and lately you come across as a man with political aspirations, instead of a man committed to the job he is in. I will never believe that I could be so wrong about someone.”

In an emailed statement, Fischer wrote that it pains him to see Reynolds’ “hurt and the hurt in our city and country.”

Reynolds’ full message:Mayor Fischer, show us Black lives matter in Louisville

“Sadiqa and I have been colleagues for years, and we have fought many battles together,” he wrote. “While we may not agree on every issue, I do hear her. And I know that the only way to improve our city and nation is by working together. I remain committed to that goal.”

Reynolds, who also served as a Jefferson District judge, worked in Fischer’s administration as chief of community building for several years before she was named as the first woman president of the Louisville Urban League.

She has been an outspoken advocate for justice for Taylor, who was killed in her home by police March 13, at times joining in the weeks of protests in downtown Louisville.

At a rally Monday, she said the community wants “a response when a Black woman is killed in her home.”

“We want accountability in our city. Sure, there are lots of cities in the United States of America that are dealing with police brutality. But there is only one city with three dead bodies since March.”

Taylor, 26, was shot and killed by police during the execution of a search warrant in connection with a larger narcotics investigation.

Police have said three officers — Brett Hankison, Myles Cosgrove and Jonathan Mattingly — fired their weapons after Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, shot Mattingly.

Walker has said the shot was a “warning” and that he didn’t realize they were police.

Taylor was shot five times and died in her hallway.

Mattingly and Cosgrove have been placed on administrative reassignment, pending investigation. Hankison was fired and is appealing that decision.

None has been criminally charged, though the attorney general and FBI are reviewing the internal police investigative file and conducting their own investigations.

Since Taylor’s death, David McAtee, a barbecue store owner, and Tyler Gerth, a young photographer documenting downtown protests, have also been killed. McAtee was shot by a member of a National Guard unit brought into upon Fischer’s request, and Gerth was fatally shot by a fellow protester.

Reynolds’ lengthy post also questioned Fischer’s recent promotion to president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which he was tapped to lead beginning July 1, despite ongoing tensions in the city and a local push for the conference to reconsider.

She wrote that one of the great failures of the country was in allowing white people to “consistently fail up.”

“Imagine a Black man or woman being President-elect of the Conference of Mayors and their city still (boarded) up — no justice no peace. Imagine Black women who’d previously took hits for them crying out for justice. Imagine they’d hired the wrong police chief and kept him too long. The good white leaders of the Conference would ask that brother or sister to defer their leadership. ‘Let’s skip this year Tyrone,'” Reynolds wrote.

“I am tired of not calling out the contradictions,” she added. “I have considered the mayor my friend. I honestly have love for him. But a Black woman, who could’ve been a young me, is dead, and I am not satisfied with his response.

“I’m angry because I always thought if something happened to my daughters, Sydney or Wynter, he would be on my side. But something did happen and he protected a police department unworthy of his cover.”

If Fischer doesn’t figure out how to “move the needle toward justice,” then he will be useless to the U.S. Conference of Mayors and to Joe Biden, she said.

She added that she no longer sees the mayor she once knew, the man who sat with her in “the church bombed by hateful men in Birmingham.”

“That guy deserved to lead the Conference of Mayors. This guy, lately, deserves to have his political career ended with an asterisk,” she said.

Councilwoman Jessica Green, D-1st District, said Thursday she thought Reynolds’ post was indicative of the struggle that many Black Louisvillians have with Fischer.

“He has shown up to our churches. He’s been in Chickasaw Park at basketball tournaments. He’s kissed our babies,” she said. “And we’ve been with him.

“But you know what? Shucking and jiving at fish fries is not sufficient. We need somebody who’s going to be with us when it matters. So, the fact that we are at a point where we are literally crying and begging for some justice, for some support? And we have essentially been met with silence and excuses? It’s disappointing.”

Green said she feels as though “we have been used” — that Fischer seems to have used the Black community for votes to get in office, then not addressed their interests.

As for Reynolds, Green said she felt her pain and conflict in the post.

“It’s painful. It really is painful.”

The Rev. F. Bruce Williams, senior pastor at Bates Memorial Baptist Church, called Fischer’s actions “bewildering to those of us who thought we knew him” in a Twitter post, adding that people are dead and “legitimate demands” made by “hurting, grieving masses of citizens” have gone ignored.

“The demands have been ignored and we are tired, infuriated and done,” he wrote. “As @SadiqaReynolds said, there’s no pass on this one.”

Hannah Drake, a Louisville poet and activist, added that for Reynolds to make this position public, when not everyone may agree, speaks to how strongly she feels about “justice for Breonna.”

And she said it was possible that Reynolds’ stance could lead to a domino effect of other Fischer allies pulling support or voicing disappointment.

“Here’s the thing I don’t think the mayor or the city of Louisville understands: Black people, and particularly Black women, are done playing their game,” Drake said. “Black women have held up our end of the bargain in Louisville. … In spite of all the injustice that we’ve overlooked, we’ve minimized, we’ve tried to compromise, we have this one moment in time — a young black woman killed by the police, and there’s no justice for her.

“I stand with Sadiqa and I think what she did was very courageous.”

Darcy Costello: 502-582-4834; [email protected]; Twitter: @dctello. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/darcyc.