“A system cannot fail those it was never meant to protect.” ~ W. E. B. Du Bois
Today is not okay.
I don’t find it difficult to write – ever. I find it difficult to have to articulate why today is not ok. I find it difficult to try to find logic in something that was beyond illogical and an outcome that is nowhere near justice.
To summarize the outcome: 1 officer was charged with wanton endangerment for bullets that hit the neighboring houses. Reread that. There were no charges relative to Breonna’s murder. In fact, the officer whose bullet killed Breonna was not charged at all because his bullet was “in response” to a shot fired.
THIS is what we’re processing.
Now, I find it “weird” typing “from the perspective of a Black mother.” My initial thought is, I’m a mother who has a child. A child who encompasses my entire heart and whose life means the world to me. Because THIS IS WHAT ANY MOTHER SHOULD THINK. Sounds normal, right. Society has made us look like our children don’t matter to us because they keep taking them and not hearing us.
I’ll say what I’m not “supposed to” because I have to and WHOLEHEARTEDLY feel it. Someone’s child was murdered, and riots and looting are the city’s primary concern. Buildings. Businesses. Monuments. History. If my child is murdered, the last thing I’m thinking about is a city and its tangible items. At minimum, I’d probably not be thinking clearly at all; I wouldn’t even be myself. But this is what any mother would feel, right?
How anyone sleeps without turning tonight, and goes throughout the day without a single tear or feeling of defeat, is quite the privilege. And, it’s a privilege no Black mother can feel. We don’t have access to that. Instead, we will worry. We will pray with every step or movement our children make. We will keep trying to make the world understand that the tone that has been set today negates any form of what society believes is the “American Dream”. We will keep fighting for the future of our children.
“If you’re silent about your pain, they will kill you and say you enjoyed it.” ~ Zora Neal Hurston
Don’t be silent.
This post was written in response to the day charges were announced for the officers involved in Breonna Taylor’s death.
