How The Justice System Failed Breonna Taylor

Sonali Kolhatkar speaks with Andrea J. Ritchie about how the justice system failed Breonna Taylor.

No police officers were charged in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor, a nurse in Louisville, Kentucky who was killed when law enforcement entered the apartment that she shared with her boyfriend at night more than 6 months ago. Taylor’s case has become as high profile as the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and calls for justice have fueled the Black Lives Matter movement. But the only charges announced after a grand jury investigation were against an officer whose bullets apparently endangered Taylor’s neighbors. Critics have pointed out that the officer was essentially held accountable for not shooting at Taylor.

Kentucky’s Attorney General Daniel Cameron, a rising GOP star said as a speaker during last month’s Republican National Convention that his party, “will never turn a blind eye to unjust acts.” On Wednesday he exonerated law enforcement and oversaw what many feel was a gross miscarriage of justice. Cameron enjoys the support of President Trump, Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell, and the Fraternal Order of Police.

Read Andrea’s article co-written with Mariame Kaba in Essence Magazine called “We Want More Justice For Breonna Taylor Than The System That Killed Her Can Deliver,” HERE.

Andrea J Ritchie, She is the Researcher-in-Residence on Race, Gender, Sexuality, and Criminalization at the Barnard Center for Research on Women and the co-author of Say Her Name: Resisting Police Brutality Against Black Women, Queer (In)Justice: The Criminalization of LGBT People in the United States, and Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color. Earlier this year she co-wrote an article called We Want More Justice For Breonna Taylor Than The System That Killed Her Can Deliver.

Rising Up with Sonali is a radio and television show that brings progressive news coverage rooted in gender and racial justice to a wide audience. Rising Up With Sonali was built on the foundation of Sonali Kolhatkar's earlier show, Uprising, which became the longest-running drive-time radio show on KPFK in Los Angeles hosted by a woman. RUS airs on Free Speech TV every weekday.

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