We must keep fighting for justice for Breonna Taylor. We must keep saying her name

<span>Photograph: Amy Harris/Rex/Shutterstock</span>
Photograph: Amy Harris/Rex/Shutterstock

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Justice for Breonna Taylor

You are not safe driving while black in America. You are not safe walking while black. You are not even safe sleeping at home while black – as the death of Breonna Taylor tragically demonstrates. In the early hours of 13 March Taylor, a certified EMT who hoped to become a nurse, was shot to death by plainclothes police officers while asleep in her apartment in Louisville, Kentucky. The officers were executing a no-knock search warrant and broke down a door to get in; Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, says he didn’t hear officers announce themselves and thought it was a home invasion. Walker, a licensed gun owner, responded by shooting an officer in the leg; they fired more than 20 rounds in return and Taylor was hit at least eight times.

Taylor would have turned 27 on Friday. She should have been celebrating. She should have had many decades of life ahead of her. Instead she is a hashtag. Meanwhile, the officers involved in her shooting haven’t been charged with any crimes. Nor have they been fired; they are on administrative leave. Taylor’s family have filed a wrongful death lawsuit and the FBI’s Louisville office announced that it would be opening an investigation into Taylor’s death on 21 May; since then, however, there doesn’t seem to have been much movement in the case.

Taylor hasn’t gotten justice yet, but she hasn’t been forgotten: protesters around the world are chanting her name. Nevertheless, the public outrage over Taylor’s death has been somewhat belated. Had it not been for the massive protests sparked by George Floyd’s murder, it’s unlikely that Taylor would have received much, if any, mainstream attention. NPR notes that the earliest news stories covering Taylor’s death didn’t mention her name; they referred to her and Walker as “suspects” and focussed on the injured police officer.

Writing for Time, author and professor Brittney Cooper notes black women and girls are often an afterthought in our outrage over police violence – which is why the #SayHerName campaign, which draws attention to female victims of state violence, was created in 2015. Cooper posits that one reason outrage over the police killing of black women is often a secondary concern is because many of these deaths have happened out of the public eye: “And in a world where the pains and traumas that black women and girls experience as a consequence of both racism and sexism remain structurally invisible and impermeable to broad empathy, these killings recede from the foreground quietly.”

Black women, Cooper explains, also don’t easily fit into “the lynching script, what with its accreting black male victims, overzealous cops and devious white women,” which helps us understand why black men keep getting killed. “Femininity is a weapon only if you’re white,” she writes. “Black women have no such protections.”

“The most disrespected person in America, is the black woman,” Malcolm X said in 1962. The most unprotected person in America is the black woman. The most neglected person in America, is the black woman.” Over half a century later, not much has changed. Black women are rarely centered in narratives about police violence; they are rarely the catalysts for mass outrage; their deaths are often an afterthought. Which is why we must keep fighting for justice for Breonna Taylor; we must keep saying her name.

Egyptian father ‘used coronavirus’ to trick daughters into FGM

An Egyptian man has been charged for allegedly having a doctor carry out a female genital mutilation (FGM) procedure on his three daughters. The man told his daughters, all under 18, they were getting a coronavirus vaccine; the girls were then drugged and mutilated. FGM was made illegal in 2008 in Egypt and requesting or carrying out the procedure carries a prison term. However, no one has been successfully prosecuted under the law so far.

Missing Mexican congresswoman’s body found

Anel Bueno, 38, was abducted by armed men in April on Mexico’s Pacific coast, an area dominated by drug cartels, while raising awareness about the coronavirus. Sadly her body has now been found in a shallow grave; a suspect has been detained.

Rudy Giuliani and Piers Morgan scream at each other on TV

Please enjoy this absolutely bonkers clip of Morgan and Giuliani slinging insults at each other on breakfast television. And I thought women were supposed to be the emotional ones?!

Cate Blanchett injures her head with a chainsaw

Thankfully she is OK. It is not clear what she was doing with the chainsaw, though. A desperate DIY quarantine haircut, perhaps?

The ‘UES Mommas’ Facebook group shuts down after racism row

A private Facebook group of 38,000 Manhattan moms has reportedly shut down after members called for more diverse moderators – specifically a black moderator. This is not the first time the group has been embroiled in a racism scandal.

Matt Lauer weighing next step in comeback

The former Today show host was fired by NBC in 2017 for an inappropriate relationship with a co-worker. He has also been accused of raping a former co-worker; an allegation he vehemently denies. Apparently, Lauer thinks it is time he returns to public life and is reportedly talking about doing a big TV interview – strategically timed to take advantage of the coronavirus pandemic. “Given [the fact there’d be] no studio audience, it could be a less hostile venue,” a source told Us Weekly.

Latin America as deadly as ever for women, say activists

It has been five years since Argentina rose up against violence against women under the slogan Ni Una Menos (Not One Less), a movement which spread across South America. Despite a wave of public protests, the region remains one of the most dangerous places in the world for women and the coronavirus crisis has compounded the problem of domestic and gender violence.

The week in baby raccoons

A New York woman has, for reasons only she knows, been standing outside a 7-Eleven handing out baby raccoons. Health officials are not happy and are on the hunt for the little cubs which, while very cute, are a potential rabies threat and illegal to possess if you’re not a licensed raccoon caretaker. BRB, just going to google where you get one of those licenses.