Early yesterday morning, David McAtee was murdered when either a member of the Louisville PD or the National Guard fired a gun into a crowd of people shortly after midnight. According to Aida Osman, the social organizer who created his GoFundMe, McAtee was far away from Louiville’s crowd of protestors when he was murdered. His body was left alone until around 11 am.
McAtee, also known as “YaYa” and “the BBQ man,” is survived by family, friends, and a community who loved him and his food. “He left a great legend behind. He was a good person,” said McAtee’s mother, Odessa Riley, who also lost a daughter earlier this year. “Everybody around him would say that.”
“[H]e was one of the ones who would donate all his time and all his food; everybody could just come up and take it and he wouldn't charge because it was for the neighborhood,” said Louisville resident Greg Cotton, Jr.
I know little else about David McAtee except that he, like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, James Scurlock, Tony McDade, Nina Pop, Ahmaud Arbery, and Sean Reed, should still be alive.
If you are able, and especially if you are white, please donate to David’s GoFundMe, the Louisville Community Bail Fund, any other bail fund, or a Black-led organization or fund for direct action, community support, and prisoner support.
In solidarity,
David
David tweets at @k8bushofficial.