By Ashley Chambers
Today, we remember Breonna Taylor, a year after her tragic and unjustified police killing at 26 years old. A year of community uprisings and protests to demand justice for Breonna around the country, from Louisville to New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Oakland. A year of her family having to deal with the tremendous loss of their daughter, sister, partner, and friend.
The fact is Breonna Taylor’s death was preventable. She should be here today. But since March 13, 2020, when she was gunned down by police while sleeping in her apartment, her killers have yet to be held accountable for cutting Breonna’s life short.
Breonna had so much life to live, and she deserved the opportunity to fulfill her dreams. She loved helping people and had hopes of becoming a nurse. She had dreams of starting a family of her own one day. Breonna was a healer and her life mattered. And we continue to #SayHerName to remind the world of that fact.
As Black women, we are often reminded that society undervalues our lives, our happiness, our dreams, and our health. Limitations are placed on us and encouraged by the systems that uphold racism and white supremacy. But Black women deserve more than what society gives us.
We deserve justice, healing, appreciation, we deserve to be seen and heard, and we deserve to feel safe. Breonna Taylor deserved more.
A year after Breonna’s murder, we are still fighting for justice and police accountability. There is a united cry to defund fear and systems that terrorize our communities including police departments around the country, and hold the people in power – local governments, mayors, attorney generals, governors, and other officials – accountable.
Organizations like Black Lives Matter Louisville and Until Freedom have been pushing forward the justice work that still needs to be realized, calling for police reforms and a ban on no-knock search warrants in Kentucky. And this work reverberates through grassroots organizing in so many other communities fighting for alternatives to policing – New York, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Oakland, and other cities.
Tomorrow and throughout the weekend, the community in Louisville will remember Breonna a year after her death in a series of events. A community rally will also be held at Mission High School in San Francisco on Saturday, March 13 at 4 p.m.
We know police do not keep us safe. We keep us safe. As a nation, it is beyond time we stop investing in systems that kill us, and invest in those that heal us. Breonna Taylor deserved better.