Lexington activist writing ‘Bars for Breonna’ calls grand jury decision ‘a punch to the gut’

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) – Devine Carama was in Louisville Wednesday at the time of the announcement of the Grand Jury’s decision, he says it felt like a punch to the gut.

Carama has been going back and forth to protests in Louisville for the past three months.

He said he doesn’t condone violence, but he understands were the pain is coming from.

“But I certainly understand the emotion that has led to the violence now, because, you know, communities of color, across so many cities in the United States, have been dealing with some form of oppression for the last 400 years, and that pain is generational,” Carama said.

He said it’s imperative people who aren’t on the ground in Louisville or Lexington understand it’s more than protests.

“There’s been a lot of things going on behind the scenes in concert with the protests, a lot of people think it’s just people in the streets. And it’s an anarchy, it’s not, the protesters are continuing to apply the pressure, but there’s also talks on behind the scenes,” Carama said.

Like an end to no-knock warrants in Louisville.

Carama started writing 16 bars a day for Breonna Taylor leading up to the decision. He said now instead of bars a day, he’s working on a bigger project to incorporate the verses to honor Taylor.

Carama also started The Luna Library, named after his late daughter Kamaria “Luna,” the library project donates books featuring black children as the main character for free to children in Lexington.