We at Kindred are outraged and devastated at the news that our justice system has enabled police officers who murdered Breonna Taylor – in her home, in her bed, where she lay sleeping; where she was resting after four overnight shifts as an essential medical worker in the the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic – to walk free.
The lone “wanton endangerment” charges provide yet another unmistakable example of the centuries-long, wanton disregard for Black lives in the laws and institutions of the United States. Our justice system punishes those it supposed to protect. When we combine the legal allowance of a “no-knock” warrant together with our laws permitting private citizens to own guns, what did we think the outcome would be? Who did we think it would harm most? We must put these policies on trial, examining our assumptions, and rooting out the racism in them.
It is tragic and reprehensible that racial violence continues to plague this nation, causing gut-wrenching emotional, physical, and spiritual suffering for Black families and communities. At Kindred, we continue to stand in solidarity against racism in all its forms. We continue to work for racial justice, every day. And we continue to fight for the day we know we are capable of reaching – the day when we fully see each other’s humanity, when we understand that our destinies are intertwined and our liberation must be collective. That’s the country and the world we all deserve. And we won’t give up hope that we can get there. #SayHerName #RestInPowerBreonna