The public outrage and tumult in response to the police killing of George Floyd has been so relentless and continuous that other incidents of police brutality and overzealousness are obscured, if not completely forgotten. For a moment we could have listed the tragic death of Breonna Taylor among those casualties hovering below the radar. Her name is now being chanted along with Floyd’s as the racist pandemic within the COVID-19 crisis envelopes the land.
Often this column is reserved for the unheralded notables of the past, but lately, given the coronavirus pandemic and the number of fatalities we are unable to cite in our pages, we take time out to honor a few of the current loss of lives, particularly when they were as promising as Taylor’s.
The nation was informed that on June 5, Taylor would have been 27 years old. She was killed shortly after midnight on March 13 when the police used a battering ram to enter her apartment in Louisville, Kentucky. According to the police, the officers were executing a search warrant at a home where drug transactions had allegedly been conducted. A judge had issued the officers with a no-knock warrant that allowed them to barge into the residence without identifying themselves, though they claim they announced who they were.
Taylor, who was employed as an Emergency Medical Technician, was in bed with her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, when they were alerted that their home was being invaded. Walker, a licensed-gun owner, fearing someone was breaking into the apartment, fired at the intruders, wounding one of the officers. They returned fire, and eight of their bullets tore into Taylor’s body, extinguishing her life. No drugs were found in the apartment and the police may have been in pursuit of Taylor’s former boyfriend who once lived there when a package of unknown content was delivered.
It was good to witness that some of the protesters held placards and floated balloons in memory of Taylor on her birthdate. In all too many instances Black women killed in such wanton fashion by the police do not receive the media attention, and Taylor’s tragedy, unlike Floyd’s, was not videoed and shown countless number of times on television and social media. The graphic nature of Floyd’s death is another factor with three officers pressing him to the pavement while another one used his knee to compress Floyd’s neck.
Taylor’s family and their lawyers have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Louisville Metro Police Department and the officers, several of whom have been put on administrative leave while the investigation continues.
So, who was Breonna Taylor?
To her family and friends, she was known as “Bre.”
She was a teenager when she moved from Michigan to Louisville. Hers was a reversal of a historic pattern of migration in which a large contingent of Louisville residents during the 19th century often fleeing slavery arrived in Detroit, notably Ruthie and Thornton Blackburn. Taylor attended Western High School in Louisville, where she met and befriended Erinicka Hunter and Shatanis Vaughn—they were, in their words, “the three amigos.”
Bre or Breezy, another nickname, “was a cool, cool cat,” said one of her aunts, Tahasha Holloway. When she wasn’t on an emergency call, Taylor loved to devote spare time to playing cards, and her favorite games were Phase 10 and Skip-Bo. But the incessant spread of COVID-19 limited these moments of relaxation and delivered a grueling schedule.
None of the increased need to serve others fazed Taylor, and according to co-workers she relished the opportunity to rush to aid someone in stress or in need of medical treatment. That desire to help others was extended to her own family. In a Facebook post she made as her uncle recovered from a stroke last year, she wrote: “Working in health care is so rewarding. It makes me feel so happy when I know I’ve made a difference in someone else’s life. I’m so appreciative of all the staff that has helped my uncle throughout this difficult time and those that will continue to make a difference in his life.”
As the death of Floyd has aroused the nation—and cities around the globe—Taylor’s name has been rescued from the easily forgotten files and now her name is chanted along with Floyd’s in the wave of discontent.
While her name is shouted along with Floyd’s and others, in her hometown of Louisville it’s a different story. A huge mural of her smiling face drawn in chalk adorns downtown’s Jefferson Square Park. The family says it lifts them up to know her story is being heard—but also makes it harder to grieve.
“Every time I see her, or someone says her name, I cry. I break down,” says Vaughn, Taylor’s high school friend. “They really supporting you [Taylor] now. Everybody knows your story. You’re going to be heard finally.”
And perhaps even more as the investigation continues and the family’s lawsuit wends its way through court system.
Taylor was a committed first responder and it’s good to know she is finally getting the response she deserves.
A mural of Breonna Taylor in a park in Louisville.