Justice in the U.S. for Black Americans, especially those victims of an unwarranted police shooting, is like looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The pot might be there but ain’t no gold in it. The killing of Breonna Taylor in Louisville in March 2020 during a botched raid, is one of many cruel examples. While one of the seven officers involved in the raid was convicted, his sentencing for violating Taylor’s civil rights was just 33 months, a far cry from a maximum life in prison sentence.
Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, was visibly distraught by the sentence delivered by U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings, who was appointed by Trump. Some satisfaction may come from the fact that former officer Brett Hankison was sentenced to 33 months in prison — far more than the prosecutors’ recommendation of an unprecedented one-day sentence and three years of probation.
Go figure! And the numbers here, as always in such incidents, are glaringly off-kilter. A 26-year-old Black woman is assailed by 20 bullets, and the shooter gets 33 months. There is nothing unusual about this arithmetic when placed in the context of police violence and Black victims. We’ve seen it time and time again, and the recent shooting death of Jabari Peoples by the police in Birmingham, Alabama, is another instance where the past is prologue.
Even more egregious in Taylor’s murder is that none of the officers who fatally shot her were charged with a crime at the state or federal level. An additional element of injustice to mix in this empty pot.
Each day brings another tragedy letting Black Americans know how hopeless they are in removing this victimization, this wanton slaughter. The rash of administered consent decrees against police departments and denial of federal funds have had no effect on curtailing the killings, and the situation is increasingly hopeless in these Trumpian times.
Maybe one day that long arc of the moral universe that Dr. King spoke of — the one that bends toward justice — will finally arrive. The release of FBI documents on his assassination is a topic for another time. But don’t count on that arc reaching its destination, not even in your great-grandchildren’s lifetime.