The family of Breonna Taylor, the young woman shot down in her home by cops on March 13, is still demanding justice. On Thursday evening, as protests spread around the country over the murder of George Floyd, protests in Louisville, her home, were under way as well.
Taylor worked as an emergency medical technician (EMT), and focused on protecting herself at work, getting necessary PPE, and saving lives during this coronavirus pandemic. She wasn’t sentenced to death by the virus, however. She was sentenced to death for being Black in the United States.
In the middle of the night, plainclothes police officers broke down her apartment door with no warning, and delivered a storm of bullets, killing her. Her partner, Kenneth Walker, shot a signal bullet into the ceiling to ward off the home invaders, not knowing they were cops. For this single shot he was arrested and charged with attempted murder of a police officer. The police fired at least 25 times, threatening the lives in neighboring apartments as well.
Government officials use nice words and symbolic actions when they talk about “essential” workers and how health care providers are “heroes.” These are empty words, and the only response they deserve is for us to stand together and fight back against their disregard for life.
Coronavirus is contagious, and dangerous, and we have to protect ourselves and each other from spreading it. But what’s far more deadly is letting this racist, violent system continue. Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and the thousands of others who have been killed by police and white supremacy remind us that we must keep fighting. The whole damn system is guilty as hell!
Featured image credit: Family of Breonna Taylor, via Agence France-Presse
