Yahoo News So This Is What Six Months Gets Us?
Furious but unsurprised. That’s how most of Black America, including myself, is feeling following the press conference by the office of Attorney General Daniel Cameron. Furious because accountability for Breonna Taylor shouldn’t be up for debate considering she was slain in her own home and bed. In every way she’s the “perfect victim” for widespread, nonpartisan support. And yet so was Trayvon Martin and Tamir Rice and Aiyana Stanley-Jones and the countless others, which is why we are unsurprised. We have danced this dance of disappointment before. We have been deferred justice countless times before. An America that affirms our lives doesn’t matter is what sparked this global movement to begin with. “Black Lives Matter” is what we chanted, and still America found new ways to remind us that it literally begs to differ.
To those wondering aloud if this measly indictment is better than no indictments at all: it isn’t. The calls for arrests were flawed to begin with. What would justice look like for a young woman awoken at home by thieves in the night who were empowered to rob her of her life with impunity? I can assure you that this isn’t it. But the thing is, the indictments of all three of the officers involved in Breonna’s death would not have been justice either. We have made the mistake of being excited by charges when transgressors could just be acquitted in a Hail Mary pass to save the day for white supremacy. This isn’t a metaphor. The various players within our larger criminal “justice” system are portrayed to be in a structure of checks and balances when they are in fact teammates. Under public pressure, police may be arrested but the judges and district attorneys and attorneys generals will always ensure that power is rarely, if ever, ceded. Furious yet unsurprised.
And when you examine the charges, you will soon realize a series of assertions, each a reminder that police brutality is low on the priority list for those responsible for protecting and serving our communities. Former detective Brett Hankison was charged with three counts of first-degree “wanton endangerment,” because the bullets he fired at Breonna and into her home strayed and entered neighboring apartment units. Breonna wasn’t even listed as a victim for the charges brought forth. As Jemele Hill tweeted, “The state of Kentucky deemed the lives of Breonna Taylor’s neighbors to be worth more than her own. Let that sink in.” The charge was labeled a class D felony punishable by up to five years in prison for each count, coupled with a $15,000 bond. So not only was Hankison not charged for Breonna’s death at all, but he’s already posted bond and been released as protestors face similar or worse consequences for resisting racial injustice with no loss of life.
This is why, before a press conference was announced by the grand jury on Wednesday, organizers were already preparing to activate the community within Louisville as well as allies outside the city. This is why, when a state of emergency and curfew were announced before the grand jury’s decision was even made public, we knew exactly what to expect. We will never be offered justice because to do so would implicate and indict the entire system. What those in power don’t realize is that our movements can’t be quelled. Each miscarriage of justice reinforces our resolve and re-commits us to the structural change that we must demand as justice for Breonna Taylor and every other victim of white supremacy and state-sanctioned violence. The system may not ever deliver us justice but it will make the case for abolition time and time again. There is no reforming a system that can’t even name the problem.
Our Herculean efforts, no matter how brilliant or creative, can never convince those doing exactly what they were trained to do to become our allies, but they can abolish the system altogether. Justice for Breonna Taylor means there are no “perfect victims” and we are all worthy of advocacy. Justice for Breonna Taylor requires stripping officers of the power they have to enter any person’s home in the middle of the night, kill them, and then hide behind “intent” once the impact of their actions come to light. Justice for Breonna Taylor looks like accountability for those involved as well as support for Breonna’s surviving loved ones including Tamika Palmer, her mother, and Kenneth Walker III, her partner who was by her side that tragic night. There’s so much more we can and should demand instead of limiting our vision of justice to arrests and seeking any sense of fairness from a legal structure working exactly as it was designed.
Here are five ways you can re-engage in the fight for Breonna:
Visit InvestDivest.org for a newly released list of demands by BLM Louisville which include firing and revoking pensions for all officers involved.
Identify in-person rallies near you, where you can voice your outrage and resist business-as-usual. Local racial justice groups nationwide have begun to organize direct actions in solidarity with those already on the streets of Louisville, including Until Freedom.
Donate to BLM Louisville’s Community Bail Fund which supports those protesting on the ground to do so safely and to heal from the emotional roller coaster of being on the frontlines.
Call your senators and representatives and demand that they support The Breathe Act, a comprehensive agenda for racial justice in America developed by the Movement for Black Lives. Should this act pass through Congress, bloated police budgets, absolute power, and institutionalized racism could all be reined in.
Continue to #SayHerName not only on social media but in your board rooms, during your family meals, and within your social circles. This campaign was built by the African American Policy Forum for women like Breonna. Its website states, “If our collective outrage around cases of police violence is meant to serve as a warning to the state that its agents cannot kill without consequence, our silence around the cases of Black women and girls sends the message that certain deaths do not merit repercussions.” There is no room for silence and we must never forget.
You have the right to be furious though not immobilized. Fury can be a powerful catalyst for change if channeled in the right directions. Let’s get true justice for Breonna Taylor.
You Might Also Like
