Happy Birthday Breonna Taylor!

Breonna Taylor should be celebrating her 27th birthday today. Instead in March she was murdered by members of the  Louisville Metro Police Department. Her death was horrific. Members of the LMPD conducted a no-knock raid and her boyfriend, believing that intruders were entering fired and wounded an officer. The officers responded with disproportionate force and murdered Taylor while she was sleeping. So far, none of the officers have been held accountable. In honor of Breonna Taylor's Birthday, Cate Young has organized a list of action items that we can do to try and bring justice to Breonna's family. One of the action items is to send Birthday cards/letters to the Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron and to Louisville Metro Mayor Greg Fischer. Below are the messages I sent via the mail (I also sent a copy of the text via email, just in case the post cards get lost in the mail).

Letter to the Attorney General:

Dear Attorney General Daniel Cameron,
On June 5th 2020 Breonna Taylor turned 27. Or rather, she should have turned 27. This should have been the start of the next chapter in her life as she inched closer to 30. She should have had the opportunity to sit back and take stock of her life. She should have had the opportunity to look back with pride at all she had accomplished in her life, to feel a twinge of regret for opportunities missed or mistakes made, and to look into the future with hope as she dreamed about her goals. Instead, she was murdered in cold blood by officers of the Louisville Metro Police Department. Instead she has become another hashtag, another name in the long list of Black and Brown people murdered by law enforcement. Her family members should be finding ways to celebrate her and make plans for her future, instead they are forced to memorialize her.

Breonna Taylor’s death is not only a personal tragedy for her family, but it is an act of injustice. No Knock raids are horrible abuses of state power and they are avenues for the state to terrorize citizens with the expectation that said citizens should not defend themselves. I will be blunt, I don’t care if the officers allegedly “announced” themselves or not, they entered the house under false pretenses, looking for a suspect that was not there, they then proceeded to terrorize those living in the house, and when the boyfriend acted in self-defense, they responded with disproportionate force.

The officers need to be investigated and charged. The use of no knock raids needs to be rethought at the local, state, and national level. That will take time and is most likely beyond your scope. But what you can do, is help bring justice to Breonna Taylor’s family. You can work towards ensuring that Black and Brown lives are valued and that killer cops are not allowed to murder with impunity just because their victims happen to have Black and Brown skin.

Breonna Taylor should still be here. But she’s not. And nothing you and I do, will allow her to be back in her family’s arms. But what I can do is join the voices of thousands of other people demanding justice and accountability. And what you can do, is use your authority and power to start the long process towards justice.
From,
Naiomi Gonzalez

Letter to Mayor Greg Fischer

Dear Mayor Greg Fischer,

Breonna Taylor turned 27 on June 5, 2020. Or rather, she should have turned 27. She was murdered by officers of the Louisville Metro Police Department in March and so far, no one has been held responsible for her deaths. This day should have been a time of celebration for her family and friends. They should have spent the day playing her favorite card games Phase 10 and Skip Bo, and making plans for the next few years. She should have spent the day opening her gifts, laughing in delight at the gifts chosen with love and care. Instead her family and friends spent the day mourning, remembering the good times and grieving the future that was stolen from them because of the cowardly actions of members of the Louisville Metro Police Department. As a result of their cowardice and murderous actions, Breonna Taylor has become another name added to the long list of Black and Brown people murdered by American law enforcement.

I am joining the thousands of Americans and citizens throughout the world, who have spent the last week saying no more. No more killer cops acting with impunity. No more murders by cowardly and racist cops. No more blatant disregard for Black and Brown lives. No more friends, parents, partners, children, crying because their loved one was brutalized and killed by law enforcement.
The cops that murdered Breonna Taylor need to be held responsible for her death. I, for one, do not care whether or not they “announced themselves.” The fact remains that they entered the house under false pretenses, terrorized those who lived within it, and when Taylor’s boyfriend defended himself against the dangerous and violent actions of the police, they responded with disproportionate force. The only ones to blame for Breonna’s death are the officers.

Breonna should have been here to celebrate her 27th birthday with her loved ones. Instead, they are left shattered and demanding justice. Nothing that is done now will bring her back to life, but a measure of justice can be served. Please, do the right thing, do the hard thing. I’m sure officers at the Louisville Metro Police Department will be angry, but the time of law enforcement acting without fear of consequences is over. The officers that killed her need to be charged.
From,
Naiomi Gonzalez