“The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the Black woman. The most neglected person in America is the Black woman.” ~Malcolm X
Dear Breonna (in Heaven),
The world is mourning your loss. In an American society where we place a market value on human life, and weigh by the pounds of their flesh, the Black man and the Black woman, no matter our contribution to building this nation, continue to reside at the lowest societal positions.
Malcolm expressed this emphatically when he argued, “The most neglected person in America is the Black woman.” A claim he made, and a claim that holds true even more today, when I think about the miscarriage of justice related to your death.
A few weeks ago, I was sitting at the kitchen table in tears. Hours earlier, I had witnessed another execution-style video of a Black life. His name is, not was, Jacob Blake. He is from Kenosha, Wisconsin. Jacob had apparently stopped his car to break up a fight between two women. When the police arrived at the scene, he refused arrest and attempted to reenter his vehicle. The police then shot him seven times in the back, while three of his children viewed their father’s attempted murder from the back seat.
This tragedy made me think about you. As professional sports leagues, such as the WNBA and NBA, have concentrated their forces to obtain justice for you, yet, another Black life was on the verge of death to be viewed by the global world.
It’s amazing how worlds collide. To think you were a former EMT and aspiring nurse. It could have been you who showed up to the scene to take care of Jacob. It could have been you in an altercation when he pulled over to the side of the road to help dissolve it. We are all our sisters and brothers’ keepers, connected in ways of love and beauty that only Oshun could explain to the masses.
Both of you were unarmed during the tragic events, and both of you were shot in a barrage of gunfire meant to kill. Although paralyzed, Jacob survived, and you transitioned to Heaven—no guns are allowed beyond the pearly gates.
There was no police body camera video in your death like there was with Jacob, George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks, and others. The media could not sensationalize the body camera footage and market your death to the White profiteers. Without clicks and likes, this world does not have its finger on the pulse. Thus, justice, in your case, has moved slowly because there is no market value.
Despite this pace, we are seeking meaningful justice for you. Agitators are pressuring Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron to prosecute the officers involved in your fatal shooting. The WNBA and NBA players, who have recently resumed playing during the post-COVID period, have centered your name and helped in the cause. And, while I am not a fan of the “Corporation-Racial Justice” model, I know that centering your name on a national stage brings attention, and with any luck, it will motivate Mr. Cameron to arrest your killers.
William T. Hoston, Ph.D.
Breonna, we are thinking of you. Ordinary people from all walks of life are shouting the activist refrain, “Arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor.” It’s been more than 170 days since your death, and as each day goes by, we continue to say your name and cherish your memory.
Your brother in Christ,
William
William T. Hoston, Ph.D., serves as an interim associate dean in the Marvin D. and June Samuel Brailsford College of Arts and Sciences, director of the Mellon Center for Faculty Excellence, and professor of political science at Prairie View A&M University.