Say Her Name : Breonna Taylor
In the very early morning of March 13th 2020. earlier this year, three officers entered Breonna Taylor and her boyfriend's apartment on the basis of a no-knock warrant. Although they claim to have knocked before, it was then a forced entry and it is still not known whether the officers made it clear of who they were. This meant that Taylor and her boyfriend ( Kenneth Walker) did not know who was in their house that early in the day leading Walker to eventually act in self defense firing one bullet. This bullet, although recent evidence tells us that this is not known for sure, ended up injuring an officer and resulted in roughly twenty rounds of bullets being shot back by the three officers. Although Kenneth was not injured by these, at least 5 bullets entered Breonna and ended up taking her life.
After this, Breonna became a martyr, not just for the city of Louisville, or even the U.S but her name is knows worldwide and will certainly be down in history books. The #blacklivesmatter movement aims to not let Breonna's death be in vain. Breonna was a hopeful person, with so much to come, she had recently moved and dreamed of big things for her and her boyfriend in the future.
Then before we knew it, Louisville, Kentucky was set in a 'state of emergency', a curfew was announced and building were boarded up. Although this happened before the verdict was released, it looked like government already knew what the outcome that we were about to hear was not gong to be a just one.
One week ago, a verdict that we had been waiting for for over six months was finally released. Unfortunately, it was not the verdict that we would have liked. To be frank, it was unjust and no justice was really served. 194 days after her murder and exactly 55 years after the acquittal of Emmett Till's murders, we learnt that Officers Myles Cosgrove and Jonathon Mattingly will not be charged at all, they will continue to walk free with no consequences . Meanwhile, Officer Brett Hankinson will not be charged with the death of Breonna Taylor but with first degree Wanton Endangerment ( for more information on this, see my post on instagram for a brief but detailed explanation on what this ). To briefly explain this here, he will not be charged for the firing the bullets that killed Breonna but for the bullets that entered the neighboring apartments putting other lives at risk.His bail was set at $15,00 and it has already been posted. For the charge he received, he can receive up to a $10,000 fine or 1 - 5 years in prison, although many with this charge often find away around it.
There are more details to come, and I will try to keep you all updated on this but this is to be brief and to address this significant issue we need to address.
So how can you help?
Well, to most of us, this verdict was heartbreaking...
but no surprise.
To help in some way shape or form:
- keep educating yourself - by reading and keeping on top of information around you about such matters, you have already made yourself aware of what;s going on and even how you can make a difference
- share what you're learning - it may seem annoying. A spam of posts on your story, constant sending different videos and images to people but you are making a difference. By sharing posts/articles like these, you are helping other people be aware of issues like this and allowing for more conversations to be had
- sign petitions - sadly, I haven't been able to find many recent petitions for Breonna but whenever I do, I will update you guys on it. an example of one you can sign now is https://www.standwithbre.com/#petition ( for people living in the States)
- vote. for those of my readers of age, whom are living in the U.S... please do vote and act like your life depends on it. because it does. Although I myself am not from the U.S- 'when the U.S gets a flu, the whole world gets a cold'
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