The Mouths Chef David McAtee Fed by Heather Schroering

The Mouths Chef David McAtee Fed by Heather Schroering

https://vimeo.com/452392682

As Louisvillians took to the streets on June 1, 2020 protesting Breonna Taylor's murder, David "Ya Ya" McAtee was miles away tending to his grills outside of his barbecue joint, Ya Ya's, in the West End. It's unclear what police and the National Guard, which had been brought in to assist with protests, were doing at 26th and Broadway outside of McAtee's restaurant. It's unclear what led to gunfire, but McAtee was fatally struck by a bullet fired by the National Guard in the early hours of the morning. In the weeks that followed, New York-based journalist and amateur analog photographer Heather Schröering, a Louisville native, staged a personal protest of her own of the news media's exploitation of Black death and lack of celebration of the Black lives lost. She spoke to McAtee's friends, family and patrons, focusing her reporting on his life as a chef, who fed the homeless, and pillar of his community as one of the few Black entrepreneurs in the West End. Along with attending McAtee's funeral, Schröering captured Louisville's reaction to his and Breonna Taylor's murder on her 35mm Olympus OM-1 SLR, including a peaceful demonstration and a children's march that took place in response to a rumored "armed counter protest" organized by a member of the Kentucky National Guard on June 27, 2020. (The counter protesters didn't show up, but hours later, activist Tyler Gerth was murdered by a man with mental illness who fired into the crowd.) "There were three cities that triggered the rebellion," said a pastor at McAtee's funeral. "But Louisville is the most significant because in Louisville, not only do we have a woman who was murdered named Breonna Taylor, but we have a man who was martyred for our cause by the name of David McAtee."

Uploaded 2020-08-27T23:59:54.000Z Aerials and Satellites Wakefield