Imagine having a violent crime occur to a family member and not receiving justice.
That’s exactly what happened to the family of 26–year–old Breonna Taylor. On the morning of March 13, in Louisville, Kentucky, three cops went to the home where Taylor and her boyfriend Kenneth Walker were sleeping. Walker believed that there was an intruder in the house, so he fired a warning shot.
The three officers by the names of Brett Hankison, John Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove, fired 32 shots into the home. Six of the shots struck Taylor, killing her instantly. Normally when a murder is committed and the murderer is known, they are arrested. Not in this case.
Hankison was fired on June 23 for firing blindly into the home, but not for committing murder. On Sept. 23, Hankison was indicted for three counts of endangerment concerning the neighbors, yet no action was taken against Hankison for the killing of Taylor. The other two officers, Mattingly and Cosgrove, have not received any type of punishment in relation to the murder.
Because Taylor was murdered in March of this year and has yet to receive justice, protests have been sparked across the nation. Cities such as Houston (TX), Florence (SC), Hollywood (CA), Louisville (KY), and Columbia (SC) have been home to such protests.
Two Winthrop freshmen, psychology major Penelope Williams and biology major Stefani Cabusora, attended a protest on Saturday, Sept. 26.
“I support the Black Lives Matter movement and I want justice for Breonna Taylor,” Cabusora said. “It’s in the Constitution, we as Americans have the right to protest.”
Everyone has a reason for why they protest and support the Black Lives Matter movement. Some reasons are more personal than others, however.
“I felt like I needed to go out and do something,” Williams said. “We’re supposed to be treated equally and obviously we’re not, so somebody has to stand up.”
Many people that are protesting believe that it is not fair that Hankison is getting off scot–free. These people also believe that he is only getting off scot–free because of him being a police officer.
“[Hankinson] did a very awful crime that anyone else would have been sentenced many, many years for. It doesn’t make sense that he got off easy,” Williams said.
The murder of Breonna Taylor resurfaced the BLM movement and is something unlike anything America has ever seen.
“The Breonna Taylor case is very eye–opening. You don’t see how bad it is in your everyday life,” Williams said.
“I feel angry about it because [Hankison] deserves to go to jail for what he did,” Cabusora said. “The BLM movement is important to me because there are still a lot of injustices going and everyone deserves equality.”
Breonna Taylor was murdered by three cops in March of this year. Six months later, still, we have yet to see any justice. She, as an American, was promised liberty and justice, and she has yet to receive it.
Photo courtesy of Breonna Taylor’s family
