By now most of you have probably heard of the name Breonna Taylor. Breonna Taylor was a 26-year-old Black woman who was shot and murdered by police officers in Louisville, Kentucky. Breonna was an EMT who had so much ahead of her.
Breonna was murdered on March 13th, 2020 by three police officers of the Louisville metro police department. According to the New York Times, the three police officers were looking for two men “they believed were selling drugs out of a house that was far from Ms. Taylor’s home.” A judge had allowed the officers to also search Breonna’s house because the officers believed that “one of the men had used her apartment to receive packages,” but it turns out Breonna had cut ties with that man.
When the police officers broke the door off to enter Breonna’s house, Breonna’s current boyfriend was scared that it was Breonna’s ex trying to break in and harm them. It has been said that the officers made their presence known before entering, but Breonna’s boyfriend said they didn’t hear anything. In fact, they had been yelling “Who is it?” and heard no response from the officers. Breonna’s boyfriend, Kenneth, fired his gun once when the officers entered the home, and that is when the officers started firing back. One of the officers, Brett Hankison, fired blindly into the apartment, shooting 10 rounds. The Courier-Journal also reported that Breonna had received no medical attention for her wounds for more than 20 minutes after she was shot.
It is also crucial to note that there were no drugs found in the apartment, and Kenneth Walker, Breonna’s boyfriend, was legally carrying his gun. Many people like to say that guilty people deserve what they get, but Breonna was not guilty. Even then, if someone is guilty the consequence should not be death.
Too many times we have seen the murders of Black men and women be “justified” because they were guilty of something. Police officers need to be properly trained to handle a situation without having to take someone’s life. Breonna was an innocent woman that was sleeping in her home when she was murdered by police officers who had the wrong information, house, and people.
After months of protests and pressure being put on Mayor Greg Fischer, the city of Louisville agreed to pay Breonna’s family a $12 million settlement, according to The Courier-Journal. Do they think that giving them money is the same as giving Breonna justice? It is not. It is not enough for them to give the family money. Breonna Taylor deserves to have justice, just like all the other Black men and women who have been killed at the hands of police officers.
The authorities and the system have the chance to finally make it right, but yet again, the system has failed. On September 23rd, the Kentucky grand jury indicted Hankison on three counts of “wanton endangerment”, otherwise known as “reckless endangerment”. This charge is due to the officer blindly shooting into Breonna’s home.
The real kicker here is that the charge against officer Hankison is not for killing Breonna since none of the 10 shots were known to have struck her according to The New York Times. The charge was given for wanton endangerment because the shots went into the neighboring apartment, where there were three people.
It is ridiculous and disgusting to me that the charges are for the bullets that missed Breonna, but not for the ones that took her life away.
None of the officers were charged with the murder of Breonna Taylor.
Protests have already begun in response to the jury’s decision. Black men and women are continuously being failed by a system that is supposed to protect them. Black men and women can no longer even feel safe inside their own homes. Police officers need to be better trained to handle situations and not take away someone’s life. The $12 million settlement is not enough and this jury’s decision is not enough.
When will there be justice for all the Black lives that have been taken?
A Black person could be doing nothing wrong and still be murdered for the color of their skin. Let’s face it, this would not have happened to a Caucasian person. If this happened to a white person, justice would have been served immediately.
The system in place is not set up to provide justice for the murder of Breonna. The system needs to be torn down completely and built from the ground up if we want black men and women to feel protected. The system has to be reformed if we want justice for all the Black lives mercilessly lost.
*Correction: October 1st. An earlier version of this story had the word Black not capitalized. We have gone through and corrected this error.
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