Commemoration for Breonna Taylor

The name Breonna Taylor has recently spread far across America. For anyone who may be unfamiliar with the topic, Breonna Taylor is one of many victims of what some people will call police brutality, but what I’d like to also think of as police irresponsibility and manslaughter. Some would even say murder. She was a twenty-six year old woman living in Louisville, Kentucky, and by all accounts was as outgoing and empathic as anyone could be. At roughly 12:40 in the morning, police carried out a no-knock search warrant on the wrong house. Breonna’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, feared that his home was being invaded and fired a shot in an attempt to defend himself. The police blindly fired back into the apartment, and the resulting shootout cost Breonna her life. Dispatch logs show that she lay on the ground for twenty minutes with no attempt at medical attention from the officers.

This is far from the material I usually cover here, and this is more than just a post about who someone is. This is about an innocent woman who was killed in horrific fashion by the very people sworn to protect her. There’s no getting around that. But I feel that everything she experienced in life—her dreams, hopes, professions and struggles—are all overshadowed by the fact that she was murdered. I look everywhere online and I see mountains of information about her death, and not enough about her life. So that’s the approach I’m taking. Because she deserves to be remembered for more than just her death.

The reason I’m going down this route is from pure example. There are few true positives to come out of any tragedy like this, but the one that always shows up is the uniting of communities and people. This past Thursday, August 13th, over 70 radio stations across America (including Big Heavy World’s The Radiator) dedicated their 2pm time slot to honoring Breonna’s life by playing one of her favorite songs: “Everything” by Mary J. Blige. It also included a heartfelt message from Breonna’s family and a reading of the names of other women victims of police violence. The list was forty six names long. This is what you call honoring the life of someone now gone. And so that’s what I want to do.

Almost every outlet you see will feed you a similar line about how Breonna Taylor was a hero: how she was a young EMT always fighting the good fight who ended up in the worst of situations. But Breonna was a hero long before she died. Everyone talks about how she was an EMT, but that wasn’t the only outlet for her kindness.

Her career as an EMT ended in 2016, and from there she picked up two jobs in different hospitals. At Norton Hospital she worked as a PRN, a.k.a. someone specialized in multiple fields who fills in for other doctors and healthcare workers when needed. As a PRN, Breonna would’ve been required to work upwards of 40 hours per paycheck, in addition to lacking the benefits of paid time off and sick days, in addition to having to work at potentially inconvenient hours such as the night shift. On top of this, Breonna worked at UofL Health - Jewish Hospital as an ER technician. This job saw her doing more assistance work with doctors and nurses in the ER, generally monitoring and collecting samples off patients, once again proving her skill set and care. This position would cost Breonna upwards of twelve and a half hours per shift.. It’s generally regarded as not being one of the most compensating positions, but that it’s best for making connections and meeting people. Both of these jobs are enough to earn anyone’s respect, but Breonna worked both at the same time. Not only does this paint the picture of a hard working woman, but also the picture of someone who clearly aspired to continue rising up the ladder in the hospital profession. She had dedicated her life to helping people when they were most in need.

But that’s just her profession. There’s often much more to a person than just which job field they choose to throw themselves into, although it’s no doubt indicative of that person’s skill and passion. Breonna was a fan of both horror movies and board games, activities that she often shared with her younger sister, Ju'Niyah Palmer. She made a best friend in middle school named Alena Battle through their shared enjoyment of board games as well as the SEGA video game “Super Monkey Ball.” In 2008, Breonna and her family moved to Louisville to get closer to her sister. Whilst the distance between her and her middle-school bestie was sizable, they didn’t let it get in the way. During the summers Alena would travel the distance from their origin point of Grand Rapids all the way to Louisville to reconnect with each other, and in the times between would Face-Time to stay in touch.

Breonna was known for bringing the boardgames she so loved into the hospitals which she worked in an effort to help her fellow staff get through their shifts. Her attitude towards her work was adrenaline-fueled. She found excitement in the hectic, time sensitive work of saving lives, and as a result would come home late at night, drained of all energy, and she would have a bowl of Fruity Pebbles and subsequently fall asleep. 

When watching movies with her sister Ju’Niyah, Breonna would “fall asleep in the first three minutes,” as said by Ju'Niyah in an interview with NBC News. In addition to all of this, Breonna was the godmother of her best friend Alena’s son, Tamaj, taking on the nickname of “TT Brona” for the role. For Tamaj’s second birthday, she drove all the way from Kentucky to North Carolina for a surprise visit, and had made a teal quilt as a gift for the boy. This isn’t even to mention her relationship with Kenneth Walker, who both met in high school over their (yet again) shared love of boardgames. Kenneth had an engagement ring at the ready, but reportedly never had the chance to break the question.

This is what I know about the life of Breonna Taylor. I have no doubt that there is much, much more about her and her livelihood before the tragic night that took her from us. There’s so much that only she knew, and no one else ever will. 

Every time I go on social media I see her face—I see people spreading her word and message of helping your neighbors, friends, and everyone. I never had the pleasure of meeting Breonna, but I can imagine what kind of person she was just from everything I’ve heard and seen in research. She was a hero, not just to her family and friends, but to every single person she aided in her multiple long, painstaking positions, and will go down in history as another case of a good person served injustice by those sworn to do otherwise.

There’s no getting around the tragedy of what happened to her, but what we can do is remember who she was and what message she stood for: that of the simple act of compassion. Breonna was a hero who gave everything she had to people she barely even knew. The least we can do, as people who barely knew her, is never let her memory fade. Never let the memory of who she was fade. Say her name.

Above: The tribute to Breonna Taylor for 105.9FM, hosted and edited by DJ cRAIG mITCHELL.