LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Since the fatal shooting at Jefferson Square Park roughly three weeks ago, protesters have shifted their focus to direct actions or “creative tension” as a way to convince others to work with them.
From interrupting a press conference by Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer (D) to 87 people being arrested outside Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s (R) home, day 54 of the protests bring a new direct action to the fight for justice for Breonna Taylor movement: a hunger strike.
Around lunchtime Sunday, protester Amira Bryant stood in front of Louisville media at the headquarters of Kentucky Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression (KY Alliance) to announce Hunger Strikers For Breonna, a hunger strike protest her and three others will start at noon ET Monday.
“In an active protest and to achieve our goals, we will abstain from caloric intake indefinitely,” 27-year-old Bryant declared Sunday.
“We demand justice for Breonna Taylor and her family,” she said.
One of the other members of the group, called Hunger Strikers For Breonna, is Arii Maybe.
“If they don’t know we’re hungry for justice, then we’ll never know we are starving for change,” Maybe said.
Maybe also explained that the most important aspect of this hunger strike in protest versus all other protests they have done is that there is no end date.
“They can’t touch us. They can’t control us, and we control the narrative through our message on social media,” Maybe said.
The plan is to live stream their hunger strike 24 hours a day, seven days a week via the group’s social media channels on Instagram and Facebook. The four hunger strikers will not eat any food or drink beverages. Under medical supervision, they will only take supplements to sustain and drink water to stay hydrated. The hunger strikers said they do have a safe space in an undisclosed location for support.
“We’re not just loose cannons out here. We do have a medic who will be taking our vitals daily. Those who did volunteer understand the risk,” Bryant explained. “They know that they are healthy. We feel healthy for this,” she added.
The hunger strikers will protest in this manner until two demands are met: all three officers linked to the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor March 13, 2020 are fired from Louisville Metro Police Department, and their pensions are removed.
“We will just kind of be a body for the cause. So you probably won’t see us much out on the streets. If you do see us out in the streets, we just chillin’ with her fists up like, ‘We’re here to support you,’” Bryant said.
Bryant said only justice or extreme hunger that affects her health will make her stop the hunger strike.
“So we’re not trying to be taken out of the game by any means necessary. We still got some fighting in us. So if we do fail that’s okay. We are going to regroup and come up with the next action, next demonstration,” Bryant said.
While four protesters are participating in the full hunger strike, the campaign does allow people to take a lent-like approach in support of the core members. Those who want to show their solidarity can give up something of their choosing for a defined number of days, such as smoking or drinking.