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‘For more than 100 days, Black women have mourned the tragic murder of Breonna Taylor.’
‘For more than 100 days, Black women have mourned the tragic murder of Breonna Taylor.’ Photograph: Robert Gauthier/LA Times/Rex/Shutterstock
‘For more than 100 days, Black women have mourned the tragic murder of Breonna Taylor.’ Photograph: Robert Gauthier/LA Times/Rex/Shutterstock

Black women will fight another day. Not just for Breonna Taylor, but for ourselves

This article is more than 3 years old
Hannah L Drake

On Wednesday, we learned no one would be held accountable for Taylor’s murder. Why does justice continue to elude us?

For more than 100 days, Black women have mourned the tragic murder of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman killed in her home by the Louisville metro police department. To rally the nation around Taylor, Black women occupied space, shouted and protested. Black women have marched and cooked food to provide sustenance for others. Black women created art, wrote poems and sang songs that spoke of freedom. Black women have become the face of the Say Her Name movement, fueled by our children’s blood. Black women have stood in solidarity waiting for justice – justice that was far too long delayed and on Wednesday denied as we learned that no one would be held accountable for the murder of Breonna Taylor.

As I sat in Injustice Square Park after hearing the announcement that inherently I knew would be coming, I wondered: “When? If not today, when will this world ever provide justice for Black women?” In 1965, the Louisville city attorney Alberta Jones was murdered. Her case was never solved, and Jones never received justice.

Now, 55 years later, we are still fighting to receive justice for Black women. How do I explain to people how it feels as a Black woman to know that someone will be held accountable for shooting through a wall before being held responsible for killing a Black woman? How do I explain to my daughter that a neighbor’s apartment wall was more valuable than the life of Breonna Taylor?

After the announcement, many people asked me: “What do we do now?” I was stunned by this question. This world has the audacity to ask Black women what do we do now? What haven’t Black women done?

Black women have always stood on the frontlines and the sidelines. We have worked tirelessly for little to no pay. We have nursed your children when we couldn’t even nurse our own. We toiled in your fields from sun-up to sundown. We were the conductor on the railroad to freedom. We endured the bites of dogs and hits from billy clubs. We have shouted, and this world turned a deaf ear to our cries. We have buried our sons and our daughters too soon. We have had our bodies used for medical research. We have saved elections. What more does this world want from Black women that we have not already given? Black women have paid our dues in blood.

And still, Black women are never allowed a moment to be the victim. Black women are never allowed to be vulnerable. Black women cannot even find rest and refuge in our own homes without the threat of being murdered. Even at this moment, Black women are not given a second to simply breathe, because now we must teach the world how not to kill us in our homes. We have to teach the world that Black women are worthy. We have to teach the world to simply say our names. We have to make this world see that when Black women rise, everyone rises. When Black women receive justice, this world receives justice.

After this announcement, Black women do not have the luxury of pausing and processing what this means for us. Black women did not wake today, given a moment to cry. We understand in this world when it comes to demanding justice, there is no moment of rest. We wipe our tears, as we prepare to fight another day not just for Breonna Taylor, but for our mothers, our daughters, our sisters, our aunts, ourselves.

  • Hannah L Drake is a poet, author and activist

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