Poll:
Is racism more or less of a problem in Kentuckiana today?
(WHAS11) - WHAS11 News is taking a week long look at race relations and begins with voices that’ve helped shape the discussion in Kentuckiana.
WHAS11 wanted to know if they think we've made progress and if they think racism still exists around us.
Merv Aubespin has many stories to tell.
He was an artist for the Courier-Journal when racial violence broke out in 1968 and the National Guard was called in.
It was chaos. Merv had a white reporter go along with him for security but fearing for the white reporter's safety, Merv sent him back to the newsroom.
Merv began phoning in eyewitness accounts leading to one close call with a police officer.
According to Merv, the police officer told him to move.
After telling the officer that he was an acting reporter, the officer said, “We don't have any N***** reporters at the Courier, move or I will blow you away.”
It convinced Merv that as an African American he could tell the story like no one else and so his reporting career began.
He would continue to tell stories with his unique perspective, become associate editor and help change the landscape by the time he left the Courier-Journal.
Bill Summers is Louisville's First African American Deputy Mayor. Nelson Mandela and Satchel Paige give him inspiration.
Summers is quite at home at Metro Hall, working inside the system.
In the 60's he was protesting it and getting arrested for doing it.
“I felt like I was doing what I had to do to change the way I was treated,” says Summers.
After being denied basic freedoms, now Bill Summers works to make changes from within.
“Dress the part, look the part, like you should be there,” he says.
Sometimes he says it's still not enough.
“When you get on an elevator and a woman grabs her purse -- it still happens,” he says.
It happened to Merv not too long ago at his new condo in the Highlands. He was sitting on his front porch when a maintenanceworker approached him and asked if he needed help, assuming he didn’t belong there.
Reverend Cosby leads Kentucky's largest African American church. He says we can't play beautiful music if we still judge on color.
“The piano has both black and white keys. You need both to play optimum,” says Rev. Cosby.
Merv Aubespin marched with Dr. King and still holds on tightly to the dream; a dream he says that now rests with young people.
Merv Aubespin, Bill summers and Kevin Cosby are still trying to keep the ball moving.
