Failure to Indict Murderers of Breonna Taylor Shows it's not a Few Bad Apples; it's a Rotten Tree
Explaining that the system does not allow justice is not the signal that everyone should just shrug and go home.
By Mark Sumner / Daily Kos
The circuit court judge had barely finished reading the shockingly abbreviated list of charges handed down by the grand jury, when the carefully worded legal explanations began. After six months of investigation and testimony, only a single officer will face charges, and not one of those charges is related to the murder of Breonna Taylor. Instead, Detective Brett Hankison will face three counts for the shooting of a white neighbor’s wall.
Instantly, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron was on screen to explain that the grand jury had not returned charges concerning how three police officers shot Taylor in her bed. The grand jury did not return such charges, said Cameron, because the law would not support it. Boiled down to its essence, what Cameron explained in calm tones is that the system has been designed, through centuries of refinement, to allow those empowered by that system to murder the disenfranchised with impunity. His statements were then nodded over sagely by politicians and “legal experts” as if that explanation was the end of things. As if if Black people only understood that the law makes their lives disposable—that the system is working as intended—that would make everything dandy.
But those protesting the police murder of Breonna Taylor already understood perfectly that every aspect of the legal system is designed to diminish the value of Black lives. The people who have taken to the streets over this terrible spring and summer are not confused. They know they’re not fighting against “a few bad apples,” but a broken basket and a whole twisted orchard overrun with nooses still swinging in the breeze.
Explaining that the system does not allow justice is not the signal that everyone should just shrug and go home. It’s what brought people to the streets in the first place. And on Wednesday evening, they came back to the streets across the nation to show, again, that the difference between law and justice is shockingly clear.
One thing that Attorney General Cameron failed to mention in his non-apology for the outcome of the grand jury proceedings is that it’s not that the grand jury decided not to charge Hankison or the other officers involved with Taylor’s death. “According to Kentucky law, the use of force by Mattingly and Cosgrove was justified to protect themselves,” said Cameron. “This justification bars us from pursuing criminal charges in Miss Breonna Taylor’s death.”
While Cameron went through the various forms of murder and manslaughter that exist under Kentucky law, and declared that all of them were inappropriate in his view, what Cameron did not mention was that none of this was actually a decision made by the grand jury. The charges evaluated by the grand jury were entirely up to Cameron, and all the actions related to that jury are held under strict protection.
For all that anyone knows, the grand jury returned an indictment on all the charges Cameron presented to them. There’s no evidence that Cameron ever took to that jury any charge related to the death of Breonna Taylor, or the actions leading up to that death. There is no information about what instructions Cameron gave to that jury.
The grand jury might have been perfectly cognizant of the injustice behind Taylor’s shooting and been absolutely ready to levy charges … if they had been given a choice. Saying that the grand jury failed to return charges against the other officers is simply wrong. The truth is likely that the grand jury was never given that opportunity.
In the wake of the decision—and the statements by Cameron and others that there was “justification” behind Taylor’s murder—protesters boiled into the streets across the nation. In Louisville, police say they made “close to 100” arrests (since reported as 127). Protesters in that city are facing bail as high as $1 million.
Hankison’s bail has been set at $15,000. Overnight, the Associated Press reported National Guard forces and armored military vehicles in downtown Louisville. Police fired tear gas and “less lethal” weapons into crowds gathered at Jefferson Square.
Large protests also took place in New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Philadelphia, and San Diego. Protests in other cities were also met with brutal force, including Portland where police rushed a crowd and conducted mass arrests. In Denver, a vehicle drove at high speed through a crowd of protesters, but fortunately no one was injured.
In the protests in Louisville, two police officers were shot overnight after being sent to investigate reports of gunshots at an intersection. Across Louisville, many “militia” members were patrolling the streets carrying semiautomatic rifles and members of several right-wing groups were on hand to gloat over the sentencing results. It was initially stated that a suspect was in custody, but it is currently unclear who fired the shots that struck the officers, or whether any of the arrests made were in reaction to those shootings.
Both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris issued messages condemning the violence. But they also had additional messages.
"In the wake of her tragic death, we mourn with her mother, family, and community and ask ourselves whether justice could be equally applied in America," Biden wrote in a statement released Wednesday afternoon. "I know for so many people today’s decision does not answer that call. … We must continue to speak Breonna Taylor’s name, support her family still in grieving, and never give up on ensuring the full promise of America for every American."
https://twitter.com/KamalaHarris/status/1308952487211171846?s=20
Meanwhile both the party of Trump and their organ at Fox News continued to lie about the situation in an effort to widen the racial divide, promote violence, and increase national tensions. Fox News called Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker “a drug dealer" while Republican senators blamed “Democrat mayors” and Donald Trump thundered about “law and order.”
Lead photo via @austin63867