Queer Activists Outraged Over Lack of Charges in Breonna Taylor's Death
Keep saying her name: Breonna Taylor.
A grand jury in Louisville, Kentucky, came to a decision Wednesday in the shooting death of Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman who was killed by police in her own home during a botched drug raid in March. According to The New York Times, one of the three former Louisville police officers involved in the incident was indicted for "wanton endangerment"; the two remaining officers who fired shots were not. No one was charged directly for killing Taylor.
After news of the verdict broke, LGBTQ activists and celebrities alike took to social media to speak out against the lack of accountability for Taylor's killers. Actress Angelica Ross, Pulitzer-winning poet Jericho Brown, and out Pennsylvania state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta all joined the conversation, with many others chiming in to express their sadness and outrage:
Raquel Willis, the former executive editor of Out magazine, highlighted how the country's systems aren't broken. In fact, they are operating "as intended" by consistently devaluing the lives of Black women:
"This country will break your heart at every possible turn," author Roxane Gay tweeted. "But Breonna Taylor and her murder will not be forgotten. This injustice will not be forgotten."
IRL, the verdict also sparked a deluge of night-of actions across the country, including large demonstrations in Brooklyn, New York City, Los Angeles, Cincinnati, and Louisville.
Demonstrators in Los Angeles protest the grand jury's verdict this Wednesday, September 23.
The protests come on the heels of a recent resurgence of Black Lives Matter activism nationwide, including massive queer-led protests against systemic racism and police brutality at NYC's Brooklyn Museum and Stonewall Inn.
Sadly, Taylor isn't the only Black American to lose her life to police violence in 2020. Tony McDade, a Black trans man in Florida, and George Floyd, a Black man in Minnesota, were also killed by police earlier this year.
Rest in power, Breonna.