Analysis: Part of the #BreonnaTaylor fallout is a deeper questioniing of how (white) Democrats govern #Louisville.

I can't escape this '18 interview @louisvillemayor Greg Fischer did w/ @GOVERNING about the foundation of #compassionatecity & his call to public service.

Listen.

. @louisvillemayor says two things led him to public service.

1. His mother serving meals to the poor.

2. His father being kind to a Black shoeshine man named "Sam." #BreonnaTaylor #BlackLivesMatter #Louisville #LouMayor

What is so telling is that is underscores the shorfall of white liberals, especially in the context of political demands by African American constituents. #BreonnaTaylor #BlackLivesMatter #Louisville #LouMayor

For young Greg Fischer his father's basic deceny was exceptional.

No questioning of why "Sam" is shining shoes in the first place was needed.

Which explains why in many Democratic circles symbolic kindness is substituted for substantive change. #BreonnaTaylor #BlackLivesMatter

"Sam" the shoeshine man is representative of a larger erasure of African American constituents in the white liberal consciousness, and puts their guilt at the center of Democratic politics rather than Black humanity, struggle and liberation.

As long as I don't toss my shoes at "Sam" and speak to him kindly and befriend him I am better than those real bigots, the thinking goes.

Plus I get the added bonus of name dropping "Sam" at do-gooder moments to put distance between myself and harsher viewed conservatives.

What's happening now, however, are more Black constituents are breaking away from the limitations white liberals and Democratic parties offer.

The choice, more are seeing, isn't a binary one. They are marching leftward with or without Democrats. #BreonnaTaylor #BlackLivesMatter

What @louisvillemayor Greg Fischer is facing is a rebellion of his and other Democrats own making.

A perpetual delay to decades of votes to a constituency of "Sam the shoeshine man" who frankly never wanted to be friends of the family but did so in the hopes of greater humanity.

"Sam" probably thought proximity to George Fischer, Greg's father, at the very least made him a less likely target of white disdain or maybe gave this wealthy white man and his son a window into Black suffering.

"Sam" doesn't even have a last name in @louisvillemayor Greg Fischer's narrative, which only further uses this human being for his own political ends.

"Greg" the mayor.

"Mary" the receptionist.

"Maggie" the banker teller.

"Deonte" the bus drive.

"Breonna" the ER technician.

My paternal grandmother, Ida Bailey, was a domestic born in the 1920s.

She was "Ida the maid" to many white boys & girls whose parents didn't spit on her but she was a full person to a whole family and community.

That's what #BlackLivesMatter & #BreonnaTaylor is about.

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