I really didn’t want to write this one, but I felt like I needed to. It’s not a good day at all. As I’m typing, I’m struggling to find the words in my head to form complete sentences. So, forgive me in advance if this post comes across sloppy.
194 days, we waited to hear the charges that would be brought against the officers that MURDERED Breonna Taylor while she was sleeping peacefully in her home. I’m sure that everyone already knows the story, but if you don’t, Google is your best friend. There’s bound to be countless articles up today about the situation and the charges that were finally brought upon the officers. Well, one officer.
I think it was about 2 days ago that there were articles circulating that cops and officials in Louisville were cancelling their vacations because of the ruling that was about to be brought down against the officers in this case. That immediately raised some red flags. We already knew the fix was in. For those of you that still want to support the police officers in this situation, I wish you all the best in life because there’s no way you can humanely support what they did.
But anyway, yesterday we found out the charges brought against one officer, Brett Hankison, were for “wanton endangerment”. That is a class D felony with a punishment of 1-5 years in prison.
Now, let’s pause.
” Wanton endangerment ” is essentially damaging property and it’s surroundings with reckless behaviour. Again, Google is your best friend. I’m not hear to argue. I’m typing what I’m feeling.
If you’re white, I really want you to pay attention to this next part. Story time.
Now imagine this: You’re getting ready to go to sleep with your husband, wife, or significant other. You do your normal routine; read a book, look into your partners eyes, have a chuckle, say your ‘I love you’ and finally you’re asleep. Sleeping is something that you’ve done almost every night you’ve been living. I’d say some of us take it for granted. We assume we’ll wake up in the morning and start a new day. I’m sure Breonna Taylor thought the same thing as she went to bed that night.
Back to the scenario. You’re sleeping peacefully, and then all of a sudden there’s a loud BOOM at your door and men with guns raiding your house. They immediately start firing shots into the darkness and instantly kill you while you’re sleeping. Your spouse fired shots back at them in self defense because he thought there were people invading your house. Who really expects their house to be raided by police in the middle of the night when you’re asleep? I bet you never thought about it, ever. But, that was the situation that happened.
Here’s the best part: YOUR HOUSE WAS THE WRONG TARGET. They we’re looking for someone else that hasn’t resided with you or that you haven’t spoken to in years. You can’t tell them anything though because you died in your sleep from the gunshots. Your significant other had charges brought against them for firing back at the officers in self defense. How would they know it was police? Nothing was said to you. No warrant was presented at all. Then in order to avoid holding police accountable for your MURDER, your past is brought up to put the blame on you, the DEAD person.
You wait and wait for months to find out what the charges are going to be for the officers that killed your partner, the love of your life. Activists, celebrities, and others are posting on social media and holding protests across the country in order for justice to be served for you; a person who was living a great life, that died in their sleep.
The government paid your family 12 million dollars for your wrongful death, so you assume that there will be some justice brought. After 194 days, you finally hear that charges are going to be brought against the officers that killed your significant other. You hear that only 1 out of the 3 officers are being charged, and guess what? It’s not for your murder, but for shooting into the house of your neighbors, damaging their property, and endangering the lives of others. Your heart drops After all the activism, marches, media attention, etc. that your case has gotten, no one is being charged for your death.
That’s where we are today. 2020 has been hard for everyone, but even more so for black people. We’re literally fighting two pandemics: Covid and Racism. We’ve known for years that black people are targets for white police officers. We can go back through the years, as far back as George Stinney Jr. and Emmett Till. You have Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Sandra Bland, Walter Scott, Rayshard Brooks, Ahmaud Arbery , George Floyd and so many more that I could sit here and type out. But, I’m not doing that to myself.
There’s always an excuse for the actions of a police officer that causes the death of a black person. Here are a few: ‘Why didn’t they comply?’ ‘What did they do in their past?’ or my personal favourite ‘The cops were just doing their job.’
Police are there to protect and serve the public, not to murder civilians and then have people try and justify that murder, simply because they’re a cop. Trust me when I say, there are a plethora of instances where white people have not complied with police officers and have walked away with their lives. If you don’t believe me, Google is your best friend. Or maybe you don’t have to Google. I’m sure you’ve used that privilege to get out of a situation before. Black people don’t have that privilege. Our blackness should not equate to a death sentence. It’s that simple.
When I see Breonna Taylor, I see my mom, sister, cousins, aunts, grandma’s, family friend’s, my own friends and my future children. They are beautiful black women that are striving to be their best selves every day. And I fear for them more than I do for black men because they have it so much harder. But, I also know they are so much stronger than we’ll ever be. They shouldn’t have to be the saviours of the world. Instead, we should be trying to protect them from the hostility this world has shown them.
So when you see someone say ‘Black Lives Matter’, it’s not a political statement. It’s a general life statement. It doesn’t mean that a black person’s life is more valuable than yours, it just means that we want our black lives to matter just as much as the everyone else’s. Because as we’ve seen thus far, that’s not the case.
I hope you get it now.
Peace and blessings.
CB
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