I awoke this morning to discover that another comrade had been taken from us far too soon. Just after midnight last night shots were fired a couple blocks from my house and 21 year old Travis Nagdy was killed.
Travis was a fixture down at Injustice Square Park, a leader and a leading voice of his generation. One of my first memories of him is from the second Friday night of protest here, when we were marching to one of the 'Snob Knob' neighborhoods of Louisville to pay the mayor a visit at home. A few miles into the march I found myself in the van of the march, with Travis beside and in front of me, his voice ringing out to lead us in chants as we made our way down Bardstown Road.
In the weeks and months since that night, Travis was a fixture in the park and on marches and protest actions. I didn't know him as well as I would like but we shared many moments, both good and bad. From tense confrontations with police and militiamen, tear gas and pepper balls, to celebrations of the little victories, Breonna's Law passing and her birthday celebration and everything in between, Travis was there and I am honored to call him a comrade.
The photos in this post are from the day that the attorney general announced that no charges would be filed in relation to Breonna Taylor's death. Travis is in the center of the photo with the big head of hair and the mask on his chin. My pandemic partner got arrested there later that night, Travis was there the next day when they were released from the jail.
I wasn't home when the shooting happened, one of my roommates may have the covid so I'm quarantining at my pandemic partner's for the time being. A friend lives next to where the shooting happened, he heard the shots but didn't get to the window in time to get a look at the car. He also told me that there were shots fired there the night before as well and that he didn't think Travis was killed by accident (randomly). Currently there is little other information about what happened or why, if you want to check out the news story about it, it can be found here.
I'm still trying to make sense of what has happened, I don't have much more to say so I will just close with this:
Rest In Power Travis Nagdy