Breonna Taylor Protest Update/ "Race Man": Reflections On Julian Bond's Life And Work

We begin today with a news update from Louisville, Kentucky. Yesterday afternoon, Daniel Cameron, the Attorney General of Kentucky, and a judge, announced that a grand jury had decided NOT to indict two of the police officers who killed 26 year-old Breonna Taylor last March. News of the grand jury decision sparked loud protests in Louisville, and many other cities across the nation. Two Louisville police officer were reported to have been injured by gunfire Wednesday night, and the city remains under a 9pm-6am curfew. For a live update on the situation, we’re joined by Jared Bennett. He is a reporter with Louisville Public Media’s WFPL (89.3 FM) and the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting. Bennett joins us on the phone from Louisville.Then, Tom spends the rest of the hour remembering Julian Bond, a civil rights icon and an influential and compelling voice for equality and justice. He had a long career as an activist, a legislator, and a teacher. Bond was a prolific writer and speaker, and it is striking to read his work from the 1960s on, and realize that, as with the case of Breonna Taylor, so many of the issues Julian Bond organized around for more than 50 years remain unresolved today... Julian Bond passed away five years ago. This past February, a collection of his essays, speeches, op-eds, and interviews was published by City Lights Books. It’s called Race Man: Julian Bond. Selected Works, 1960-2015. We talk about it today with Julian Bond’s wife of 25 years, Pamela Horowitz, a member of the board and former attorney at the Southern Poverty Law Center, and with Michael Long, the author of several books on the civil rights movement, and the editor of this volume. Pam Horowitz and Michael Long join us on Zoom…Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.