LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A handful of people showed up in front of city all to call for Fischer's resignation, while a resolution calling for a no-confidence vote in the mayor was introduced. Within a matter of minutes, heated conversations were happening on the sidewalk.
"You don't have a clue. You are a Caucasian. You are not Black. You do not walk in these shoes," one woman said.
One group was rallying for Mayor Greg Fischer's resignation.
"Our mayor is not doing what he needs to be doing as a mayor. He's failing," said Vincent Palazzo, the organizer of this rally.
"We want the mayor to resign so we can get the city back up on its feet," said Marilyn Harmon, one of the participants.
The other group is pushing back against why they want him gone.
"You want mayor Fischer to resign because you say we're the problem. We want Mayor Fischer to resign because he failed to give Breonna her justice and because he continues to ignore the problems of Black and brown impoverished communities. Period," said Carmen Jones, a protester who has been at Jefferson Square Park for weeks.
Jones agrees Fischer is not doing his job, but says this evening's message is not the right one.
"If you want to see civil rest go back in your city, how about doing things to help fix the system," Jones said.
WHAS11 asked Marilyn Harmon why she felt Mayor Fischer was at the root of their problems.
"Because he really told the officers to stand down when they should have took authority in the right positions," Harmon said. "We're supposed to have law and order."
"People don't feel safe to come down here, they don't feel safe in our city anymore and that's a problem," Palazzo said.
That's how Carmen said Black people have felt for hundreds of years and that's what they have been trying to change for more than 80 days.
"It's our city too, we pay taxes here too, our kids go to school here too," Jones said.
Vincent Palazzo and his group says Fischer is to blame for extended bike lanes, increased carjackings, boarded up windows and the state of the city.
"And he allowed it to be destroyed in one weekend," Palazzo said. "Murders are up 100%, this is not the city I grew up in. This is not the city I want to live in."
Carmen says boarded up windows should be the least of everyone's problems.
"Other than that we are a city that has paid in peace and Mayor Fischer continues to pay in pain," Carmen said.
Palazzo's group is pushing to get back to the way things were.
"We just want our city back. We want to see things go back to normal. We want to feel safe in our city again. We want our children to go back to school we want our stores to open up. We want our businesses to start being successful again," Palazzo said.
Carmen and others want to make sure that past never again becomes the present.
"If Breonna can't even get her justice, nobody should be celebrating anything," Jones said.
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