“Every day is March 13th,” said a tearful Tamika Palmer, mother of Breonna Taylor, as she recalls the pain of Taylor’s murder in the Hulu documentary “The Killing of Breonna Taylor.” In the days and months following the death of Palmer’s 26-year-old daughter, and the inability of local Kentucky authorities to hold the officers accountable for Taylor’s death, nationwide protests have erupted, along with intense media coverage, and a reported $12 million civil settlement awarded to Taylor’s family, which has been described as the largest settlement ever to be awarded by the state of Kentucky.

An emergency room technician and aspiring nurse, Taylor was gunned down in her Louisville, Kentucky apartment after Louisville Metro Police executed a no-knock warrant shortly after midnight on March 13, 2020, as she and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, lay asleep in bed.

Over 100 days passed after Taylor’s murder with no criminal charges filed against the officers directly involved with her death. Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, a protege of Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, announced on September 23 during a nationally televised press conference that LMPD officers were "justified in the return of deadly fire" after they were fired upon by Walker. Having failed to indict any of the officers in correlation with Taylor’s death, instead, Cameron’s office chose to indict one of the three officers with three counts of first-degree wanton endangerment that was not directly related to Taylor's death.

Even in death, the justice Taylor deserves continues to elude her. And as a result, those of us who still have breath in our bodies are refusing to be silent. We are refusing to accept that America is a shining beacon for everyone but the very people who labored for free to build this country—Black people.

In the wake of the grand jury’s decision and public outrage, The Reckoning collected statements from leaders and community activists in Atlanta’s Black LGBTQ community to get a sense of how local thought and movement leaders are grappling with another Black murder at the hands of the state going unpunished.

Mary Anne Adams

Founder, ZAMI NOBLA-National Organization of Black Lesbians on Aging

“I was saddened and enraged by the senseless murder of Breonna Taylor and my heart goes out to her family. The reluctance of Kentucky's Black Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron to act with all due speed and without bias in bringing charges against the policemen was politics as usual and an utter disregard for Breonna's life. And now the grand jury's failure to indict the three cops on murder adds salt to the wound. It sends the message to the Black community and specifically to Black women and girls that we are collateral damage and that our lives are of no consequence. We were never meant to survive in this country, but still, we rise.

I raise my voice with the righteous warriors who are calling for the abolition of the police state and for the reallocation of funding to community programs and services. The struggle for liberation is unending and we will continue the fight for justice for Breonna Taylor and indeed for us all.”

Devin Barrington-Ward

Managing Director, Black Futurists Group

“The lack of justice for Breonna Taylor should serve as our signal that we can no longer demand reforms and more training for police, our demands must be radical because the status quo of allowing police to indiscriminately kill Black people is what is truly radical. In this time we must make bold and transformative demands like dismantling the police, reimaging public safety, and funding Black futures. The radical culture of Black death at the hands of this government must be met with a radical push for liberation in our lifetime.”

Tracee McDaniel

Trans Activist, Founder, Juxtaposed Center for Transformation

“I believe that the grand jury decision to not indict those officers that murdered Breonna Taylor is an outrage. It’s yet another example that Black lives and Black Trans lives do not matter in a separate and unequal justice system. My heart goes out to Breonna Taylor’s family.

I hope that this tragedy and blatant injustice will serve as motivation for us to use our power to vote, by any means necessary. All of our lives are dependent upon our participation in electing more competent leadership in the White House and Congress. We must also hold them to account and ensure that law enforcement policies are changed on a systemic level, so those that continue to murder black people, will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. In the meantime, We are resilient, strong, brave, and are aware that this too shall pass.”

Craig Washington

Community Activist

“This ruling demonstrates the lengths to which white supremacy is enacted, guarded, and justified. In the wake of Breonna Taylor’s murder, to assert that there are some good police is tantamount to saying that “all lives matter.” Black people continue to be slaughtered in our homes, our cars, and our churches, in and off of the streets while our murderers are defended or spared due punishment. The naked hatred of Black people has been exposed like never before. Our institutions are sending the white people of this nation an unmistakable message that they may now relinquish aspirations of democracy for an assurance of white privilege. Breonna’s life mattered and no ruling that fails to hold her killers directly responsible for her violent death is acceptable. Black people and our allies will not stand for it. We will protest and vote, educate and agitate, mobilize, and advocate until justice for Breonna is delivered. We will not stop any of it until Black people can walk, work, play, live, and love as safely as anyone else. We have more than earned that right from this nation.”

Darlene Hudson

Community Organizer, Co-Founder of Rustin Lorde Breakfast

“The grand jury’s decision about the cruel and senseless death of Breonna Taylor essentially rendered her a non-person. It follows the pattern of cruel double standards when it comes to the treatment of Black people in America. We were at one time counted only as property of slaveholders and three-fifths of a man/woman but never fully human with equal rights. The single officer charged in the case for "wanton endangerment" never mentions her name or who he endangered for that matter. This is nothing less than a travesty of justice.

Say her name – Breonna Taylor a young black woman who in her job as an EMT first responder took care of people regardless of color. She was a daughter, sister, niece, girlfriend, and friend and did not deserve to be murdered in her own home in her bed! We have to continue to “make some noise,” march and vote until we can see justice for her and the countless other black, brown, and poor people whose lives can be cut down with no accountability. Audre Lorde reminded us “your silence will not protect you” but we know our collective voices and actions eventually will. Rest in power sister Breonna Taylor - we will remember your name!”

Solutions Not Punishment Collaborative (SNaPCo)

“Dear Breonna,

We are deeply and wholly exhausted, enraged, and in grief. We are over the erasure and disrespect of your life and death. You have not been given the justice you deserved. It's not enough to say what is wrong with the system, or to hope for change. We must take action against a system that is doing exactly what it was intended to do: tear us apart and kill us.

Breonna, we will uplift your name! Because your injustice is only a piece of the larger injustice being perpetuated against Black bodies. Your injustice is a byproduct of the same system that allows for your death to go unaccounted for in addition to the hundreds of women who were violated in GA, the hundreds of thousands of Black people who have died from COVID-19 and the Black people, especially trans people, continue to lose their lives due to systemic and patriarchal violence. We will place every breath, every ounce of our Ashe, every fiber of our work into tearing this crooked system down and creating a new world worthy of your honor.

Throughout this series of tragic events, Breonna Taylor was failed by police and prosecutors. The grand jury indictment demonstrates again, how fundamentally flawed the American criminal justice system is. On October 5th, SNaP Co. will be conducting surveys and interviews throughout the Greater Atlanta area in effort to create a comprehensive outlook on policing and community safety in the city of Atlanta. Take the survey for a Greater Atlanta: bit.ly/saferatl

Solutions Not Punishment Co. sends our love, admiration, and prayers to the local organizers of Louisville, KY who have been protesting, organizing and working non-stop in Breonna’s name. As an Atlanta-based organization, we will defer to the leadership of local Louisville organizers on how to help the fight for Breonna’s justice. Louisville organizers (preferably Black, Queer, and Trans organizers - please email us at info@snap4freedom.org)

With Love, Rage, and Power,

Solutions Not Punishment Collaborative”