Sept 26, 2020
By Dray Breezy
As of today, a Louisville grand jury has decided to indict one of the cops that fatally shot Breonna Taylor. This particular officer was Brett Hankinson and to clarify he was not responsible for Breonna Taylor’s death. He was responsible for what the jury called “wanton endangerment”, he blindly fired 10 shots into the apartment building of Breonna Taylor without having any visual on a target. I and many others are upset, I can address why we are upset, but first I must comment on the tragedy that is Breonna Taylor’s life.
The Miseducation of Breonna Taylor
The Miseducation of Breonna Taylor begins with the simple fact that she was not murdered while sleeping peacefully in her bed, she was killed in a shootout. The distinction matters. The circumstances of this shootout were ironically linked to Robin Engel, the director of the University of Cincinnati Center for Police Research and Policy. The Louisville Police Department was doing what every other police department was doing at this time, which was unfairly discriminating and terrorizing black people. Engel suggested instead of widespread terrorism, the police should focus on “micro locations”. Street blocks, corner stores and trap houses became the new targets. In December of 2019, the Louisville Police began the Place-Based Investigations Unit which selected Elliot Avenue as its focus.
Elliott avenue coincidentally was the focus of a 30 million dollar Louisville private-public development project. Throughout 2019, the city of Louisville bought about half of the real estate on Elliott avenue, with plans to turn the area into “nicer” low income housing. You would think they would take that 30 million and invest it into ending cycles of poverty through education programs for the youth, but we can only dream. Breonna Taylor’s on again off again ex-factor, Jamarcus Glover lived on the block of houses on Elliott Avenue that had not been acquired by the city.
Every Ghetto, Every City
I think its important to discuss Jamarcus Glover, because he is deeply important to Breonna’s tragedy. Breonna Taylor had dated Jamarcus Glover for years and bailed him and his associates out of jail many times over the course of that relationship. Breonna was interviewed by investigators in a 2018 murder that occurred in a car she had rented and loaned to Mr.Glover. Glover loaned the car to an associate who was then nmurdered in a drug shootout. Welcome to the hood. This is what American poverty looks like.
From all accounts, Mr. Glover was engaged in a criminal syndicate that Breonna was well aware of. This may be shocking to you, but this is the unfortunate reality of existence of many Black Americans. Our fathers are taken from our homes, Breonna’s father was incarcerated for life, shooting a man over a rock of crack, when she was six. Thanks Reagan. I can guarantee that Mr. Glover didn’t grow up in a two parent household either. We’re given sub standard educations, falsely criminalized and terrorized for having brown skin, given criminal records which exclude us from steady employment, constantly fucked over at our shitty jobs through micro-aggressions, while also dealing with the trauma of seeing other brown people that look like you murdered all over the country. Unfortunately, selling drugs is the ONLY avenue for entrepreneurship for many in Black America. If you have a problem with that you have a problem with racist American policy against black people since Plymouth Rock.
I Used to Love Him
Jamarcus Glover is doing what he has to do to survive, and Breonna Taylor falls in love with him, he becomes her superstar. During their relationship the investigative unit had noticed Glover’s actions, and busted him multiple times. After a semi-breakup, Jamarcus Glover mentions in a jail phone call to a random associate that he had stashed 14,000 dollars in Breonna Taylor’s home. This is untrue. Breonna’s a smart girl, soon after, she realizes Jamarcus’s ass is sorry and that he will never get his life together. Their on again off again permanently turns off and she officially starts dating Kenneth Walker, the good guy.
When It Hurts So Bad
Now we can talk about the inadequacies of the police system, one of my favorite topics. I heard the tape of the phone call with Mr.Glover, his ass was definitely lying, mumble lying in fact. Any of you that have dated unsavory men know exactly the type of lying I’m referencing. Its a tone that certain guys take when they’re lying about something dumb. I recognized this tone but the dumbfuck police department surprisingly didn’t. That same police department was unaware of the fact that Kenneth Walker even existed and that Breonna Taylor was in a relationship with him. They were unaware of the fact Jamarcus Glover and Breonna Taylor were no longer dating. They were unaware of the fact that Breonna Taylor lived with her sister (the sister happened to be out of town). Most importantly they were completely wrong about there being drugs or money in Breonna’s apartment. These teams cost approximately $2500 per hour to fund. Sorry not sorry, for $ 2500/hr you are not allowed to make mistakes, especially mistakes the result in the death of innocent civilians.
Forgive Them Father
Although this investigative team has done about as much accurate research as a Rush Limbaugh on climate change, and Jamarcus Glover had been arrested earlier in the night, on the night of March 13, the Louisville Police Department execute a no knock raid on the home of Breonna Taylor.
Doo Wop (That Thing)
Before I discuss that fateful night, lets talk about Breonna Taylor. Friends and family always described her as the “responsible one”. She was the first in her family to graduate from high school. A product of the Lauryn Hill empowered female crowd. She enrolled at the University of Kentucky where she met Mr. Walker. She didn’t quite make it through, the University of Kentucky is slightly diverse but the student body is 75 percent white and 7 percent black and the faculty is 85 percent white and 7 percent black. Various studies have shows how black students that have teachers and mentors that look like them drastically improve their chances of graduating from college. However Breonna persevered and became an EMT. She quit after a year, discouraged by the 16 hours shifts and low pay. Yes, working full time to still be at or below the poverty line is beyond mentally and physically exhausting, I know that struggle all too well. Breonna fits into the category of so many Americans that are striving for the American Dream but just can’t escape from the predatory nature of capitalism and the low wages from “following your dreams”.
Can’t Take My Eyes Off You
As mentioned earlier, Breonna’s youngest sister Juniyah has moved in, and Breonna becomes the caregiver of her infant goddaughter for a few weeks per night. That is quite a lot of responsibility for a 23 year old girl. Breonna became a patient care assistant at Frazier Rehabilitation Institute, tending to people suffering from traumatic injuries. She then started working overnight in the emergency room of the University of Louisville Health Jewish Hospital East. She was smart with money and saved enough to buy a car at the beginning of this year. She began to study for her nursing degree, permanently dumped Glover’s bum ass until all her forward momentum was destroyed on March 13.
Final Hour
They NY Times reports that, “The swarm of officers beat down the doors at 2424, 2425 and 2426 Elliott without incident, recovering large quantities of crack and Fentanyl pills in a bag hidden in a tree, as well as cash, digital scales and guns. Mr. Glover and four others were arrested and taken to jail.
By contrast, the crew poised outside Ms. Taylor’s apartment with a battering ram was smaller and less equipped, with eight or 10 officers, according to the conflicting accounts of the police department and the family’s lawyer. They were in civilian clothes, not using body cameras, and wearing tactical vests, not the elaborate protective gear worn by the SWAT team. An ambulance on standby outside was told to leave about an hour before the raid, counter to standard practice.”
The officers knock on the door but don’t announce themselves. As Breonna and Kenneth ask them to identify themselves, the police say nothing. This has been corroborated by dozens of accounts. At 12:41 am, the officers take a battering ram to Breonna’s door and bash it it.
Kenneth believes the house is being broken into, perhaps by Jamarcus Glover, and fires one shot which hits Seargeant Mattingly in the leg. All of the officers return fire. Breonna was hit 5 times, the cops exited the apartment and left her to die. Law enforcement was not informed of a civilian death until Kenneth Walker’s haunting phone call, minutes later. He actually called Breonna’s mother first, which shows just how much black people distrust law enforcement. I won’t recommend listening to it, which i’m sure will push all you sadists further towards finding the clip.
As we all know by now, there has been national outrage over Breonna’s death. In response, Louisville has mandated the officers wear body cams and have indicted one officer, not even the one that killed Breonna.
To Zion
Why are we upset? Because Breonna Taylor should be alive, not resting in Zion. She did not have a criminal record, and there was absolutely nothing criminal happening in her apartment. Breonna was a person that had dedicated her life to healing and helping people, even people like Jamarcus Glover. How do cops have the authority to murder people like Breonna in their own homes with impunity under false pretenses? The main problem we are encountering is precedent.
The precedent in America is that black lives don’t matter, women’s lives don’t matter, and that poor people’s lives don’t matter. Let’s discuss all the ways in which Breonna Taylor’s life fits into that narrative.
Everything is Everything
As mentioned earlier, Breonna’s father was imprisoned for life for a murder over a crack rock. Crack was introduced into black neighborhoods in the 70’s by the American government as a systematic method of imprisoning and criminalizing black people. Breonna’s father is the victim of this policy which forces her into a single parent household with a mother that has not graduated from high school. Imagine if Breonna’s father was given the opportunity to go to rehab, to fix his mental condition. Imagine if the government had funded that small initiative? How different would Breonna’s life be by now, perhaps she could have been supported by her family instead of having to support them.
Jamarcus Glover enters her life and she falls in love. Jamarcus Glover is also a victim of poverty and trauma, but still a criminal. Breonna’s relationship with Jamarcus Glover was the catalyzing incident for her death. When you tell little black girls that their lives don’t matter, through the media and unabashed racism and sexism, those feeling are internalized and result in destructive decision making. Dating Jamarcus Glover was a bad idea yet what other choice did Breonna have? He loved her back and he had more money than Breonna probably had ever seen. People in poverty understand the value of a dollar better than anyone, Breonna knew the opportunities that a relationship with someone with financial stability could bring. I don’t blame her for dating Jamarcus Glover, he was doing the best he could. I do blame him for involving her in all of his bullshit.
Racism explains why people are so fucking upset. The cops had arrested Jamarcus Glover in an earlier raid that night. They believed that Breonna Taylor was alone in her apartment on March 13. So why did they need 10 armed officers with a battering ram to search her apartment? What were they expecting to find or encounter other than a single black woman? Every single account of Breonna shows her to be a loving, non violent person, so why the hyper aggression? Racism teaches society to fear black people to this extreme level. No other industrialized country has this type of police response to civilian women. There could have been so many better and more rational alternatives to what the police tried but they weren’t there to solve any problem, they were there to terrorize and brutalize. What they have been doing to black people for centuries. This is what racism looks like in practice. This is what we are fighting against.
Why didn’t Breonna have the resources to finish college? Poverty. College is expensive and unfortunately black people are under resourced and literally overworked in all areas of academics and professional careers. Many Black people have to work full time jobs throughout college, I did and that is exhausting and unsustainable. Combined with racism and sexism, poverty kept Breonna in low-income housing, it stopped her advancement in the medical field and put her in circumstances that led to her untimely death. All of the forces connect and have to be addressed simultaneously to make lasting progress.
Roll Call
It’s time for roll call, structural and systemic change. We need to figure out who all these “bad apples” are and severely punish every single one of them. Then kick their asses out, I’m not just speaking about officers… judges, nurses, doctors, philosophers, CEO’S, wardens, politicians, all of these bad faith actors that use racism, and sexism and capitalism to advance their agenda which is keeping us poor and divided. Let’s just once again mention all the failures of the Louisville Police Department. 1) Failed to know Breonna had broken up with Jamarcus Glover 2) Failed to have medical staff on site 3) Failed to know they had shot an innocent bystander 3) Failed to find any drugs or money.
Departments this inept just need to be defunded. There is no excuse for this amount of incompetence. Taxpayers can redirect these funds to programs that help alleviate poverty, alleviate the burden on single-family homes, increase planned parenthood access, get all of the non-violent offenders out of prison and get them back into the workforce. Taxpayers shouldn’t be funding legal execution squads on their own citizens.
Tell Him
The miseducation of Breonna Taylor runs deep. Her story is an American tragedy. I blame you Obama, Clinton, Biden. I blame you Republicans, every single one of you disgusting traitors. I blame the conservative judges that delight in looking up black and brown men. I blame the wardens and prison guards that enforce a broken and violent system. I blame Scalia and Ginsberg. I blame our military generals that gleefully consume America’s resources while our people die. I blame ALL police. I blame all the black people that don’t vote or participate in politics. I blame myself for taking so long to write how I feel about Breonna. We may have lost one, but what did we gain from?