Activists want an African American horse owner to boycott the Kentucky Derby. Here's why he won't do it
By Alaa Elassar, CNN
Updated 9:32 AM ET, Sat September 5, 2020

Greg Harbut, who owns a horse competing in Saturday's Kentucky Derby, poses with Grade 1 winner Tell a Kelly.
(CNN)Civil rights activists are calling on an African American horse owner participating in the 146th Kentucky Derby to pull out of the race to protest the police killing of Breonna Taylor.

Greg Harbut, 35, is one of the industry's few African American owners. But Louisville activists say the celebratory nature of America's most famous horse race, set for Saturday, is inappropriate at a time when its hometown residents are reeling from Taylor's death and calling for justice.
Louisville Metro Police Department officers fatally shot Taylor on March 13 while executing a "no-knock" search warrant at her apartment. Gunfire broke out after her boyfriend fired a warning shot because he thought the plainclothes officers were intruders. The 26-year-old EMT, who was unarmed, was killed in the barrage of gunfire.
The countdown for answers in Breonna Taylor case looms as patience wavers in Louisville

Taylor's case -- along with other high-profile killings of Black people by police -- helped spark nationwide protests over racial injustice this summer. Protesters want the officers involved in her death to be charged; an investigation is pending.

Meanwhile, activists who have organized protests in Louisville since Taylor's death are calling for the Kentucky Derby to be canceled and for Harbut to boycott the race. Celebrities and athletes across the US have already walked out of their own events in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.
Harbut, who told CNN he was asked to sit out the race, said that while he supports the protesters' cause, he cannot oblige their request.
"I stand with Black Lives Matter, and I stand for justice for Breonna Taylor," he said. "But as an African American man involved in an industry that's not very inclusive to people who look like me, there's no way that I could sit out on one of the largest race days in the US and not bring awareness to the contributions that African Americans have given to horse racing."
The Kentucky Derby, one of the three legs of the American Triple Crown, is set to be held at Churchill Downs in Louisville. Usually a crowded affair, this year's race will be run with no fans in the stands due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The contest has never been postponed or canceled because of bad weather but was delayed by weeks in 1945 because of World War II.
Activists plan to protest the Kentucky Derby
A founder of the Justice and Freedom Coalition, one of several organizations planning to protest the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, penned an open letter on July 15 calling for a boycott of the race to "put much-needed pressure on the state to not only complete a thorough investigation of Ms. Taylor's case, but to send a clear message that we will not allow these injustices to continue."
Churchill Downs said in a statement Thursday that the race would be held as planned in the hopes that it could bring the community together.
How Black Lives Matter went from a hashtag to a global rallying cry

"We know there are some who disagree with our decision to run the Kentucky Derby this year," racetrack officials' statement asserts. "We respect that point of view but made our decision in the belief that traditions can remind us of what binds us together as Americans, even as we seek to acknowledge and repair the terrible pain that rends us apart."
Pastor Timothy Findley, the coalition founder who signed the July letter, said protesters would meet Saturday at South Central Park, less than a mile from the track, a few hours before post time. Organizers expect at least 2,000 people to attend, he said.
Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said the city supports the First Amendment rights of protesters but asked that they remain peaceful and not block traffic.
"Racial justice is a goal we all support. And we support First Amendment rights," Fischer said Wednesday. "We just have to balance the right to protest with our essential duty to preserve public safety."
Police will cite or arrest anyone blocking traffic, creating dangerous roadway conditions or trespassing on private property against the wishes of the property owner, the city advised Friday on its website. Anyone committing violence or vandalism will be arrested, it added.
Findley said protesters will aim to shift attention from the Kentucky Derby to Taylor's case.
"Anyone who stands opposed to protesting and stands with Churchill Downs in this moment will be show in an unfavorable light when this becomes history," he told CNN, speaking specifically of Harbut.
But for Harbut, it's not that simple.
Strong ties to the world of horse racing
Harbut comes from a long line of horse racing legends who struggled for recognition in the sport due to the color of their skin.
His late grandfather, Tom Harbut, owned and bred a horse that ran in the 1962 Kentucky Derby, Greg Harbut said. But because he was African American, he was not allowed to attend the race or have his name listed on the program, he noted.
His great-grandfather, Will Harbut, cared for Man o' War, an American thoroughbred considered one of the greatest racehorses of all time.

Tom Harbut, son of Man O' War's legendary groom Will Harbut, poses in 2010 with a vintage photograph of his father grooming the great sire by the stall where it was stabled.
Given his family's history in the sport, Greg Harbut says boycotting the Kentucky Derby is simply not an option. Instead, he believes that his participation could highlight African American contributions to the industry.
"The history of the Kentucky Derby started with African Americans. The first horse, Aristides, was trained by an African American named Ansel Williamson and ridden by an African American jockey named Oliver Lewis," Harbut said.
"But we are the only Black representation in the Kentucky Derby this year. There hasn't been any representation of us for the past 13 years."
Harbut's horse, Necker Island, is a viable contender, having never finished worse than fifth place in its 10-race career, according to Kentucky Derby records. The chestnut colt is also the son of Kentucky Derby alumnus Hard Spun.
However Harbut's horse finishes Saturday, he believes his own participation is a win for the African American community and hopes to use his position to bring others into the sport.
"We hope to strategically bring other African Americans into this industry and onto the national stage," he said.


Hopefully, there will be no trouble this afternoon! There is a group of people that are protesting the protesters
along with the National Guard and the local police to keep the peace and allow the race to take place!

The left continue to call the right haters, racist, closed minded, cult followers following our evil king! They are the ones continually disrupting our lives, attacking innocent people, even our children, burning and destroying businesses........How far is this going to be allowed to go before it is STOPPED! How many innocent people will be sacrificed!👿

As with so much of life and culture in the U.S. this year, Black Lives Matter has managed to dim any remaining luster that could have been gleaned from the Kentucky Derby.

Black owner, Greg Harbut's horse, Necker Island did finish the race, placing 9th in today's Derby, out of the eighteen that were competing.

Just as with most of the other media highlighted cases of blacks killed by white policeman in recent years, evidence has come to light in the continuing police investigation that appears to make Breonna Taylor far less than the innocent victim she was initially presumed to be.

According to the Louisville Courier Journal newspaper on August 25, an internal report written by Louisville Metro Police after officers fatally shot Breonna Taylor on March 13 explains why they did not have the wrong address, and why they chose to forcibly enter her South End apartment on the night she was killed.

The 39-page report and corroborating evidence show that Taylor had extensive ties to an accused drug trafficker as part of a larger narcotics investigation centered 10 miles away in west Louisville who was at the center of a larger narcotics investigation.

Breonna Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker claimed that he and Taylor were in bed when they heard a pounding on the front door. Walker fired one shot at the policemen, from his Glock pistol as the door burst open.

The round struck Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly in the left thigh, and Mattingly and two other officers, Myles Cosgrove and Brett Hankison, in response, unleashed a barrage of bullets, striking and killing Taylor.

The findings of the report, corroborated by jail phone recordings and other documents obtained by The Courier Journal, detail multiple links between Taylor and Jamarcus Glover of Louisville, a main target in a drug probe that prompted police to request the search warrant for Taylor’s apartment.

Glover was arrested the same night as Taylor’s shooting. He was picked up at an alleged drug house 10 miles to the north in Louisville’s West End. He was released on bail but is now a fugitive after failing to post a new bail set at $50,000 when he was charged again last month.

The Courier Journal reported May 12 that a sworn affidavit from LMPD Detective Joshua Jaynes said Glover was seen walking into Breonna Taylor's apartment one January afternoon and left with a "suspected USPS package in his right hand" then drove to a "known drug house" on Muhammad Ali Boulevard.

Jaynes also said he verified through a U.S. postal inspector that Glover had been receiving packages at Taylor's address.

The Courier Journal reviewed the report on Taylor compiled by the LMPD's new Place-Based Investigations unit, which targets violent crime at specific locations, as part of its investigation of Glover. The Courier Journal also reviewed transcripts of jailhouse calls Glover and other defendants made from Metro Corrections.

The evidence it details includes the results of a tracking device placed on Glover’s Dodge Charger that shows it was driven to Taylor’s apartment six times in January.

The report includes photographs of Glover entering and exiting Taylor’s building. In the application for the search warrant of Taylor's apartment, police said they suspected drugs and money were being held at the residence.

In that recorded March 13 call, Glover, 30, told a girlfriend that Taylor was holding $8,000 for him and that she had been “handling all my money.” No money was found at her residence during the police search.

Aguiar has said previously that Glover and Taylor had dated until about two years earlier and that they maintained a "passive" friendship.

But the recordings and other evidence reviewed by The Courier Journal show Taylor and Glover maintained closer ties.

On Jan. 3, for example, following Glover’s arrest on trafficking and weapons charges, he called Taylor from the jail and asked her to contact one of his co-defendants to get bail money.

Breonna Taylor responded that the associate was “already at the trap” — slang for a house used for drug trafficking.

Glover told her to be on standby to pick him up if he made bail. “I'm going to get me some rest in your bed,” he said, according to the recording."


There have been consistent Black Lives Matter protests and rioting in Louisville ever since Breonna Taylor's death, proclaiming her an innocent victim. Although, she had been convicted of no crime, without her consistent activity with known drug dealers revealed by these police reports, she would most likely be alive today.

Activists want an African American horse owner to boycott the Kentucky Derby. Here's why he won't do it
By Alaa Elassar, CNN
Updated 9:32 AM ET, Sat September 5, 2020

Greg Harbut, who owns a horse competing in Saturday's Kentucky Derby, poses with Grade 1 winner Tell a Kelly.
(CNN)Civil rights activists are calling on an African American horse owner participating in the 146th Kentucky Derby to pull out of the race to protest the police killing of Breonna Taylor.

Greg Harbut, 35, is one of the industry's few African American owners. But Louisville activists say the celebratory nature of America's most famous horse race, set for Saturday, is inappropriate at a time when its hometown residents are reeling from Taylor's death and calling for justice.
Louisville Metro Police Department officers fatally shot Taylor on March 13 while executing a "no-knock" search warrant at her apartment. Gunfire broke out after her boyfriend fired a warning shot because he thought the plainclothes officers were intruders. The 26-year-old EMT, who was unarmed, was killed in the barrage of gunfire.
The countdown for answers in Breonna Taylor case looms as patience wavers in Louisville

Taylor's case -- along with other high-profile killings of Black people by police -- helped spark nationwide protests over racial injustice this summer. Protesters want the officers involved in her death to be charged; an investigation is pending.

Meanwhile, activists who have organized protests in Louisville since Taylor's death are calling for the Kentucky Derby to be canceled and for Harbut to boycott the race. Celebrities and athletes across the US have already walked out of their own events in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.
Harbut, who told CNN he was asked to sit out the race, said that while he supports the protesters' cause, he cannot oblige their request.
"I stand with Black Lives Matter, and I stand for justice for Breonna Taylor," he said. "But as an African American man involved in an industry that's not very inclusive to people who look like me, there's no way that I could sit out on one of the largest race days in the US and not bring awareness to the contributions that African Americans have given to horse racing."
The Kentucky Derby, one of the three legs of the American Triple Crown, is set to be held at Churchill Downs in Louisville. Usually a crowded affair, this year's race will be run with no fans in the stands due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The contest has never been postponed or canceled because of bad weather but was delayed by weeks in 1945 because of World War II.
Activists plan to protest the Kentucky Derby
A founder of the Justice and Freedom Coalition, one of several organizations planning to protest the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, penned an open letter on July 15 calling for a boycott of the race to "put much-needed pressure on the state to not only complete a thorough investigation of Ms. Taylor's case, but to send a clear message that we will not allow these injustices to continue."
Churchill Downs said in a statement Thursday that the race would be held as planned in the hopes that it could bring the community together.
How Black Lives Matter went from a hashtag to a global rallying cry

"We know there are some who disagree with our decision to run the Kentucky Derby this year," racetrack officials' statement asserts. "We respect that point of view but made our decision in the belief that traditions can remind us of what binds us together as Americans, even as we seek to acknowledge and repair the terrible pain that rends us apart."
Pastor Timothy Findley, the coalition founder who signed the July letter, said protesters would meet Saturday at South Central Park, less than a mile from the track, a few hours before post time. Organizers expect at least 2,000 people to attend, he said.
Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said the city supports the First Amendment rights of protesters but asked that they remain peaceful and not block traffic.
"Racial justice is a goal we all support. And we support First Amendment rights," Fischer said Wednesday. "We just have to balance the right to protest with our essential duty to preserve public safety."
Police will cite or arrest anyone blocking traffic, creating dangerous roadway conditions or trespassing on private property against the wishes of the property owner, the city advised Friday on its website. Anyone committing violence or vandalism will be arrested, it added.
Findley said protesters will aim to shift attention from the Kentucky Derby to Taylor's case.
"Anyone who stands opposed to protesting and stands with Churchill Downs in this moment will be show in an unfavorable light when this becomes history," he told CNN, speaking specifically of Harbut.
But for Harbut, it's not that simple.
Strong ties to the world of horse racing
Harbut comes from a long line of horse racing legends who struggled for recognition in the sport due to the color of their skin.
His late grandfather, Tom Harbut, owned and bred a horse that ran in the 1962 Kentucky Derby, Greg Harbut said. But because he was African American, he was not allowed to attend the race or have his name listed on the program, he noted.
His great-grandfather, Will Harbut, cared for Man o' War, an American thoroughbred considered one of the greatest racehorses of all time.

Tom Harbut, son of Man O' War's legendary groom Will Harbut, poses in 2010 with a vintage photograph of his father grooming the great sire by the stall where it was stabled.
Given his family's history in the sport, Greg Harbut says boycotting the Kentucky Derby is simply not an option. Instead, he believes that his participation could highlight African American contributions to the industry.
"The history of the Kentucky Derby started with African Americans. The first horse, Aristides, was trained by an African American named Ansel Williamson and ridden by an African American jockey named Oliver Lewis," Harbut said.
"But we are the only Black representation in the Kentucky Derby this year. There hasn't been any representation of us for the past 13 years."
Harbut's horse, Necker Island, is a viable contender, having never finished worse than fifth place in its 10-race career, according to Kentucky Derby records. The chestnut colt is also the son of Kentucky Derby alumnus Hard Spun.
However Harbut's horse finishes Saturday, he believes his own participation is a win for the African American community and hopes to use his position to bring others into the sport.
"We hope to strategically bring other African Americans into this industry and onto the national stage," he said.


Hopefully, there will be no trouble this afternoon! There is a group of people that are protesting the protesters
along with the National Guard and the local police to keep the peace and allow the race to take place!

The left continue to call the right haters, racist, closed minded, cult followers following our evil king! They are the ones continually disrupting our lives, attacking innocent people, even our children, burning and destroying businesses........How far is this going to be allowed to go before it is STOPPED! How many innocent people will be sacrificed!👿