Breonna Taylor murder will not have closure, until those responsible are arrested and convicted.
According to Wikipedia, "Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old African-American emergency medical technician, was fatally shot by Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) officers Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison, and Myles Cosgrove on March 13, 2020. Three plainclothes LMPD officers executing a no-knock search warrant entered her apartment in Louisville, Kentucky. Gunfire was exchanged between Taylor's boyfriend Kenneth Walker and the officers. Walker said that he believed that the officers were intruders. The LMPD officers fired over twenty shots. Taylor was shot eight times[1] and LMPD Sergeant Jonathan Mattingly was injured by gunfire.[2] Another police officer and an LMPD lieutenant were on the scene when the warrant was executed.[3]
The primary targets of the LMPD investigation were Jamarcus Glover and Adrian Walker, who were suspected of selling controlled substances from a drug house more than 10 miles away.[4][5] Glover had a prior relationship with Taylor.[5] The search warrant included Taylor's residence because it was suspected that Glover received packages containing drugs at Taylor's apartment and because a car registered to Taylor had been seen parked on several occasions in front of Glover's house.[5][6] No drugs were found in the apartment.[7]
Walker was licensed to carry a firearm and fired first, injuring a law enforcement officer, whereupon police returned fire into the apartment with more than 20 rounds. According to a wrongful death lawsuit filed against the police by the Taylor family's attorney, the officers, who entered Taylor's home without knocking or announcing a search warrant, opened fire "with a total disregard for the value of human life."
It is now August 23rd we continue to see the frustration over this murder by tens of thousands of people, possibly more who are seeking justice. What kind of justice? The justice that is seeked reflects the generations of families who lost loved ones to police killings and brutality. Breonna Taylor's murder, may have been outshadowed by the death of George Floyd, which is why the focus on getting this right is important.
By letting the officers who were involved in this murder, walk away without consequence sets a precedent that is all to familiar in the African American community.Those who are outraged from this murder understand that these kinds of senseless police killings have been going on for some time. This came at the time right after Floyd's death. the United States local and city law enforcement and judiciary system.
What is the reason for so many deaths of African Americans by police officers? The narrative that has been instilled by law enforcement officers in African American communities and just about every other social setting in that your life is in the hands of a police officers for being a certain color. Now we can argue that there are others ethnic cultures and groups have been targeted by police as well. However, the numbers of police killings are disproportionately higher for African Americans as compared to other ethnic cultures and groups.
Is this a coincidence or a genocide that is happening right in front of our very eyes? A genocide of the black man and woman. This is why we must honor Breona Taylor and seek justice for her death. I do understand that other groups have also been affected by police killings and abuse, but we must aim focus on the big picture......racism.
The only clear answer to all of these killings is the hate and intolerance in law enforcement agencies for another ethnic group (mainly African Americans). If my own experiences of growing up in neighborhoods and communities where African Americans lived did not reveal such experience, I might be as ignorant as some of the people we see today. But, from being victimized personally by police officers when I was 28 years old still haunts me today.
This is not about me, but I want those to understand that I am outraged for every senseless police killing, especially African Americans. I believe the dominant discourse prevails when it comes to the institutionalized racism that we see in America today. It is in our face and behind closed doors. Breona Taylors' death was in our face America, while still mourning George Floyd's police murder seen by millions on the internet.
How do we teach others to accept and understand those who come from different ethnic, social, economic, age, orientation, religion, and political groups?
Why would we want others to think, act, behave just like us so we can feel secure?
Why is that loving another and accepting them for as they are difficult for so many?
These are the questions that if answered with integrity, you may change your stance on what you once believed. To increase one's level of higher consciousness, one must be willing to trust the unknown. As I became older, I watched how my thinking matured and developed over time. For many in the world, their social experiences and knowledge perpetuates with the same source and outlet.
I hope that as we move into the future, we all re-learn what we once knew, so we can know what we must teach others to grow and develop in this world.