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Karen Edmond

Pervasive, Systematic Racism Demonstrated In Kentucky Grand Jury Verdict On Taylor Murder Case.

Breonna Taylor, an essential emergency room worker and beloved daughter of Ms. Tamika Palmer, was murdered by a team of police officers on March 13, 2020. Undercover officers surveilling Taylor's home assumed that Taylor and her boyfriend Kenneth Walker were a part of some drug trafficking scheme. Once obtaining a warrant from Judge Mary Shaw, officers ran with haste to serve the "no-knock warrant." The subpoena permitted police officers Brett Hankison, Jonathan Mattingly, and Myles Cosgrove to act out their plan of entering Ms. Taylors home forcibly and without warning.


Once officers observed Taylor going into her home with her boyfriend, Mr. Kenneth Walker, officers waited outside watching Taylor and her boyfriend. The police officers stated that they watched the TV light reflected in her bedroom window to confirm that Taylor was home per a NY Times report. Once Ms. Taylor & Mr. Walker was asleep in bed, said officers Hankison, Mattingly, and Cosgrove rammed through Taylor's door while Taylor and her boyfriend slept in bed.


Earlier that evening, once Taylor got off work from her emergency room job, she and Walker went out for a steak dinner then went back to her place to watch a movie and call it a night. In reaction to the loud crashing noise entering the home, Taylor's boyfriend, a registered gun holder, responded to protect himself and Taylor. Walker let off one shot hoping to frighten off intruder because, per a BBC.com and NY Times report, officials said Walker "later told police he thought the late-night intruder was Glover," Taylor's jealous ex-boyfriend.


Per a NY Times report, un-announced police officers "returned fire, while a third," un-announced police officer, "began blindly shooting through Ms. Taylor's window and patio door." Bullets ripped through Taylor's home plus two adjoining apartments. Per the NY Times report, Ms. Taylor was struck 6 times and bled out on the floor. Officers shot approximately 32 bullets at Taylor and Walker.


After the trumped-up drug raid that found absolutely no drugs in the so-called drug trafficking home of Breonna Taylor, Louisville Kentucky Law Enforcement dragged their feet to charge police officers for their actions. In just six months, Louisville Kentucky Grand Jury indicted one officer, Brett Hankison, with three whole charges of "wanton endangerment'', a class D felony that carries a one to a five-year prison term.


Judge Annie O'Connell delivered the announcement of the verdict on Wednesday, September 23, 2020. The verdict was then publicly Co-signed by Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who stated in a BBC.com report, "a ballistics report had found that six bullets struck Ms. Taylor, but only one was fatal." Cameron further stated, "That analysis concluded that Detective Myles Cosgrove had fired the shot that killed Ms. Taylor." The attorney general said, "it was not clear if Mr. Hankison's shots had hit Ms. Taylor, but they had hit a neighboring apartment." Cameron further stated that "Jonathan Mattingly and Mr. Cosgrove - had been justified to protect themselves and the justification bars us from pursuing criminal charges."



A state of emergency was declared Wednesday, September 23, in Louisville, Kentucky and the National Guard deployed. Outraged community members and civic organizations repeatedly marched in protest regarding Taylor's un-necessary death for over 100 days. The verdict of the Kentucky Grand Jury furthered the enragement of public. The said verdict was then followed up with President Donald Trump's White House News conference response. When asked for his reaction to the decision in regards to the Breonna Taylor verdict, Trump stated, "I thought it was really brilliant." Per the White House News Conference report, President Trump further praised African American Attorney General Republican Daniel Cameron for "doing a fantastic job."



Community leaders have criticized the National Guard's deployment because a Black business owner David Actee owner of "YaYa's BBQ Restaurant," located in Louisville, Kentucky, was shot fatally in June of this year by law-enforcement for no reason at all. Per a NY Times report, this happened during the disbursement of BLM peaceful protesters" by guardsmen and police.


The other two assailants of Taylor, who were not charged for their wrongdoings, sent disturbing messages per BBC.Com report to "1,000 colleagues" in which Mattingly criticized city leaders and protesters. Former Officer Jonathan Mattingly email stated: "Regardless of the outcome today or Wednesday, I know we did the legal, moral and ethical thing that night," he wrote in the message, which was published by media outlets on Tuesday, September 22. He further stated in said email that "It's sad how the good guys are demonized, and the criminals are canonized." Mattingly also noted in his email sent to 1,000 law enforcement co-workers that their "civil rights mean nothing," he added, "but the criminal has total autonomy." Mattingly's blatant communication reveals that he could care less about the innocent murder of a Black woman falsely accused of being a drug runner. This is why systematic racism must be addressed per measures of government established reformation acts.


In closing, Black Lives Matter Leader Tamika Mallory, and Democratic Candidates Joe Biden & Kamala Harris are right.

In a target group of police officers in America there is a belief system whose roots are directly connected to this country’s history that believe in their heart of hearts that Black people are guilty. Especially when they're innocent. Serious psychological analysis followed up by enforcement measures must be utilized to identify rogue police officers preying on the public and their cohorts. A in depth look at the American judicial system that assists rogue officers with their unlawful behavior must be fully identified and dismantled. Vote Nov 3, 2020


Thank you for reading


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