Why Won’t You #SayHerName?

Run'or 10th- Antioch, CA
Breonna Taylor, Sandra Bland, Natasha McKenna, Koryn Gaines, Atatiana Jefferson, Aiyana Stanley-Jones. Do any of those names ring a bell? Hmm… probably not. Well, they do to me. These are the names of black women & girls who have been killed by the police.

      On March 13, Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old EMT, was fatally shot and killed by three police officers during a raid inside her own home. Yep, that’s right, she wasn’t even safe inside her own home. The fact that the three officers who barged in her home and took her life remain free is mind-boggling.  I truly can’t say I’m surprised. When George Floyd was killed in May, there was an immediate outrage and outcry from America and the rest of the world. Breonna was tragically murdered in March, yet there was only an outcry from black women for justice. Nobody listened.

     It wasn’t until this past summer while BLM activists protested over the killing of George Floyd that Breonna’s name was mentioned, but only as an afterthought. I’m sad to say that if black women did not fight for Breonna to be acknowledged, she would have been forgotten just like other black women. The reactions from the black community, BLM organization, and the rest of America were not the same at all.
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     Black lives seem to only matter when it comes to black men.  Black women created BLM, the #MeToo movement, and helped to propel the Civil Rights Movement. Recently, the shooting of Jacob Blake has sparked protests around the country. Why does it take black men to be the tipping point? Black lives mattering should include all of us and not just a certain demographic. In no way am I comparing George and Breonna’s death, which were both horrendous, but instead the reactions.  All us black women are asking, is that when we are hurt or torn down, you’ll stand in solidarity with us. Include Breonna in the fight for social and racial justice and the countless black women who’ve been killed by police brutality.  So, I ask you: please say her name.