The cops in this city of 269,000 on the Ohio River have been denouncing anti–police brutality activists and demanding the resignation of Mayor David Armstrong, who had fired police chief Eugene Sherrard. The rightist actions have called for Sherrard's reinstatement.

The first big mobilization was on March 3 when some 600 cops and some supporters, led by the dismissed chief and nine police commanders, converged on City Hall. Scores of cops deserted their assigned beats to join the demonstration and parked their cruisers, with lights flashing, outside the local government center. During the protest the nine commanders threw their badges to the ground and later submitted their resignations.

In what the Louisville Courier-Journal described as the city's "largest demonstration since a massive anti-busing protest in 1975," the cops marched again March 17, this time with a permit issued by the city. The action was organized by national and local Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) leaders and a couple of local politicians. At least 2,000 cops and their supporters marched from the FOP office to City Hall to denounce the mayor.

Sherrard was dismissed for not telling the mayor until a day before a police awards ceremony that he planned to decorate two cops who killed 18-year-old Desmond Rudolph in a hail of 22 shots on May 13, 1999. The cops received medal of valor awards. Armstrong, who had selected Sherrard 14 months ago for the post, called the move "a breach of trust." Sherrard is eligible to return to the rank of captain on the force.  
 

Growing anger over police brutality

The chiefs' action fueled growing anger here over the role of the cops and police brutality. The two cops had been cleared by a grand jury, but a coroner's jury split 4 to 2 in ruling the cops used justifiable force. The two Black members of the panel said the shooting could have been avoided.

The Rudolph shooting came on the heels of the jailhouse death of Adrian Raymond, another Black arrested by the Louisville police. One jail guard is awaiting trial in that case.

The Courier-Journal reported that their recent poll found that 89 percent of Black adults surveyed said that excessive police force is a problem and more than half of all adults in the city agreed.

While Louisville FOP president Rick McCubbin was claiming that "the support of the community is with law enforcement in Louisville," the march and the reaction to it did not reflect that. While the city is about 30 percent Black, and the 730-member police force itself is 16 percent African American, less than three dozen Blacks marched.

The FOP tried to distance the police from the image projected two weeks earlier by not having cops protest in uniform, even though many wore their badges around their necks with a black band around them. The cop organization distributed balloons, white and blue T-shirts declaring Armstrong wrong, and printed signs calling for "unity in the community."

Many participants wore green bumper stickers reading, "Impeach Armstrong," but some of the marchers' real attitudes came through. One demonstrator wore a sign that read, "Tis better to bury 1 thief than 2 cops," while another carried a sign declaring, "Judged by 12 or carried by 6--What would you Pick?"

Despite the attempt to come across as the offended party, the cops don't have a lot of wind in their sails and are somewhat on the defensive. While Sherrard led the early March action, he sent a letter to the second. It was reported from the stage that his wife was in attendance.

While some cops carried signs attacking Rev. Louis Coleman, a leader of the fight against cop brutality, a Louisville FOP leader said from the stage that no one in the organization "condones bully cops. We do not support racial profiling."

Only one of the cops who spoke called for the reinstatement of Sherrard. There were only two speakers who were not cops at the rally, a Black minister who praised the police for "cleaning up" crime in the area that his church is located, and a state senator who described his role in trying to get the Ten Commandments posted inside the state capitol.

This is a reflection of the divisions among the city's rulers over the issue. Many businesspeople have come out in support of the mayor. The local newspaper has attacked FOP actions. On March 11 the Courier-Journal ran an editorial entitled, "Police Coup." On March 17 it editorialized, "the FOP is forfeiting the support of the people whom the police are sworn to protect and to serve."

The two cops whose awards triggered the conflict returned their medals March 16. The Courier-Journal reported the day following the march that the nine police commanders who so demonstratively resigned two weeks earlier "will meet among themselves" and with the FOP "to decide whether to serve in their current posts past April 1."

The sentiments and actions of working people, especially those who are African-American, are something those who run this city clearly took into account. Two days after the March 3 cop action, 800 people turned out for a commemoration of the Selma civil rights march. The event became an anti-cop-brutality protest.

While there was no counterprotest organized to the pro-cop rallies, small groups of people did show their opposition. "We are against this," said Taneisha Curtis, one of a group of three high school students. "Nobody deserves to be buried." Two protesters carried a sign on the sidewalk parallel to the head of the march declaring, "The mayor is right in his decision." They held a shouting match with some of the cops for blocks.

Justice Resource Center, the Rainbow Coalition, Citizens Against Police Brutality, and other civil rights organizations staged a reenactment of the Rudolph shooting later in the day. The event was organized for the media, focusing on the cops' actions the night of the murder. The national big- business press covered the demonstration, and local TV and radio carried the march and rally live, disrupting local programming for two hours.

Three past or present officials of the National Black Police Association dominated the reenactment, explaining in great detail how the two killer cops violated "proper police procedure."

Their portrayal of the killer cops as rotten apples was undermined by local residents and relatives of Rudolph.

Joyce Whitten, a local West End resident and witness to the cop murder, described the cops ordering Rudolph to "get out," and then starting to shot. "The shots just rang out as if the vehicle was exploding," she said.

Rudolph's grandmother and cousin attended the reenactment. Quinesha Rudolph, a cousin, said the "police were wrong for killing him." She that the cops "need some kind of punishment."

John Sarge is a member of the United Auto Workers in Wayne, Michigan. Jim Horn, a member of the United Food and Commercial Workers, contributed to this article.  
 
 
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