Breonna Taylor_ Who She Was, How She Died, Why Justice Is Overdue _ The Daily Social Distancing Show

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S… Speaker 2 (Breonna Taylor_ Who She Was, How She Died, Why Justice Is Overdue _ The Daily Social Distancing Show)

You know, as the world came together over the past few months to protest against racial injustice, the name George Floyd has been chanted all over the globe. But there's another name which initially didn't get a lot of attention, but has slowly become the rallying call for people crying out for justice and change. And that name is Breonna Taylor.

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S… Speaker 1 (Breonna Taylor_ Who She Was, How She Died, Why Justice Is Overdue _ The Daily Social Distancing Show)

Public pressure is now mounting, with protests and celebrities speaking out. Breonna Taylor's life mattered. Do you know what happened to Breonna Taylor? Celebrities from Ali Wong, Kerry Washington, and Cardi B saying her name. Do you know Breonna Taylor's story, her whole story? I want her family to know, and I want the state of Kentucky to know.

0:45

S… Speaker 1 (Breonna Taylor_ Who She Was, How She Died, Why Justice Is Overdue _ The Daily Social Distancing Show)

that we feel for it and we want justice. The WNBA dedicating this season to social justice. We are dedicating this season to Breonna Taylor, an outstanding EMT who was murdered over 130 days ago. For the first time in 20 years, Oprah Winfrey is giving up the cover of her O Magazine, putting the late Breonna Taylor on it instead. Yes.

1:09

S… Speaker 2 (Breonna Taylor_ Who She Was, How She Died, Why Justice Is Overdue _ The Daily Social Distancing Show)

From LeBron James to Oprah Winfrey, Meghan Markle to the WNBA, the tidal wave of support for Breonna Taylor has been swelling day by day. And the support has even spread to social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok, which is fantastic, but it's unfortunately also come with downsides. Because if you're online a lot, you've probably seen Breonna Taylor being turned into just another meme. You know, whether it's putting her name on a picture of Breonna's ass or mentioning her death in some caption of a random selfie.

1:39

S… Speaker 2 (Breonna Taylor_ Who She Was, How She Died, Why Justice Is Overdue _ The Daily Social Distancing Show)

And the truth is, it's like, this is a weird amalgam of a few things. You have this relatively new phenomenon of using social media to push for justice and reform, which is good, but the downside of that, the downside is social media is a medium that doesn't always do sincerity well. It doesn't do selflessness well. That struggles to give tragedies the gravity that they deserve.

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S… Speaker 2 (Breonna Taylor_ Who She Was, How She Died, Why Justice Is Overdue _ The Daily Social Distancing Show)

And so you have maybe well-intentioned people who want to keep the name trending, and they want to see Breonna Taylor get justice, but now essentially using her name as a punchline. Because memes are not the best way to honor someone who has passed. I mean, it's the reason Obama didn't dab at John Lewis's funeral today. And so today on the show, as painful as it is, I wanted to take the time to either remind people or inform people about the story of Breonna Taylor, not as a slogan.

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S… Speaker 1 (Breonna Taylor_ Who She Was, How She Died, Why Justice Is Overdue _ The Daily Social Distancing Show)

or a post on your social media feed, but as a human being. Breonna Taylor, she's more than just a movement, a hashtag, or a moment. The 26-year-old was an EMT working in emergency rooms at two hospitals and helping respond to the coronavirus outbreak. She loved to help people. Breonna loved family. She just was...

2:52

S… Speaker 1 (Breonna Taylor_ Who She Was, How She Died, Why Justice Is Overdue _ The Daily Social Distancing Show)

She was a very sweet person, and she went out of her way for anybody. 26 and full of life. This is Breonna Taylor. Etched in her family's memories. Dancing with friends. Girl, let me wipe your eyes. Everything gonna be all right. Singing her favorite songs. Buying her dream car. She loved life. She loved to be around friends and family. She just, she had it figured out. That's right. Breonna Taylor was a friend.

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S… Speaker 2 (Breonna Taylor_ Who She Was, How She Died, Why Justice Is Overdue _ The Daily Social Distancing Show)

a daughter, an EMT worker working to help save people's lives, and apparently one hell of a TikTok dancer.

3:31

S… Speaker 2 (Breonna Taylor_ Who She Was, How She Died, Why Justice Is Overdue _ The Daily Social Distancing Show)

And by the way, it's actually nice to see the news covering a black person's death at the hands of police by using their good pictures and not that one picture that makes us all look like we've robbed 50 banks. I mean, you know Breonna Taylor was a great person because if she had jaywalked once, the news would have been like frequent jaywalker and occasional EMT. Breonna Taylor was sadly killed by the police. So for 26 years, Breonna Taylor lived her life to the fullest.

3:57

S… Speaker 2 (Breonna Taylor_ Who She Was, How She Died, Why Justice Is Overdue _ The Daily Social Distancing Show)

But then on a random night out of nowhere, the Louisville Police Department turned her into a statistic.

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S… Speaker 1 (Breonna Taylor_ Who She Was, How She Died, Why Justice Is Overdue _ The Daily Social Distancing Show)

On March 13th, as Brianna and her boyfriend, Kenny Walker, lay asleep in their bed, plainclothes police officers broke down their door using a battering ram on a no-knock drug warrant. Kenny, thinking intruders were violently breaking in, grabbed his licensed gun. Walker says they didn't say they were the police before he fired off a shot from a gun. The officers responded with a hail of gunfire. When the door comes off the hinges, it's just...

4:30

S… Speaker 1 (Breonna Taylor_ Who She Was, How She Died, Why Justice Is Overdue _ The Daily Social Distancing Show)

It's happening fast, like it was like an explosion. Walker said he purposely aimed his gun towards the ground. Sergeant John Mattingly was struck in the leg and was one of three officers who returned fire. Detective Brett Hankison was standing outside and fired 10 rounds through a closed and curtained patio door. According to Louisville's police chief, his blind shooting displayed an extreme indifference to the value of human life. The gunshots was through walls, windows.

5:00

S… Speaker 4 (Breonna Taylor_ Who She Was, How She Died, Why Justice Is Overdue _ The Daily Social Distancing Show)

Bullet holes were found everywhere, in the kitchen, bedrooms, in a neighbor's apartment with small children nearby. Multiple neighbors called 911 asking for police, only finding out later it was the police. You know, almost every time we hear a story involving a police shooting, I'm always shocked at how badly trained and not in control the police seem.

5:23

S… Speaker 2 (Breonna Taylor_ Who She Was, How She Died, Why Justice Is Overdue _ The Daily Social Distancing Show)

Breonna Taylor's boyfriend was lying in bed, heard his door get smashed in, grabbed his legal firearm, and had the presence of mind to try and injure the intruder by aiming down. But the cops, who are supposed to be trained professionals, they burst in like they get paid by the bullets. And for anyone who has the audacity to blame Breonna's boyfriend for shooting at the cops, please answer me this question. If America tells people to get a gun to defend themselves from intruders, but the cops are the intruders breaking down the door without knocking, what are you supposed to do?

5:51

S… Speaker 2 (Breonna Taylor_ Who She Was, How She Died, Why Justice Is Overdue _ The Daily Social Distancing Show)

To an innocent person, there is zero difference between a no-knock raid and a home invasion. If someone busts down your door in the middle of the night, you're gonna think that they're intruders, not, oh, the cops might be here, or damn, Uber Eats is coming in hot tonight. In fact, it would be weird if you didn't use your gun in that situation. I mean, if not then, what are you saving it for?

6:10

S… Speaker 2 (Breonna Taylor_ Who She Was, How She Died, Why Justice Is Overdue _ The Daily Social Distancing Show)

To be honest, we shouldn't even be calling these things no-knock raids. That gives them too much credit. We should just drop the euphemism and call it what it is, a home invasion where police get to act like they're in a video game. The police break down the door without warning. They shoot Breonna Taylor eight times in her own house.

6:29

S… Speaker 4 (Breonna Taylor_ Who She Was, How She Died, Why Justice Is Overdue _ The Daily Social Distancing Show)

And what makes the story even more tragic is that the cops should never have even been in that house in the first place. Police got five warrants approved. Four were for suspected drug dealers and suspected drug houses. Lumped into that with similar language was the warrant for Breonna Taylor's apartment. Under the suspicion, she was involved with handling money and drugs for an alleged Louisville drug dealer, her ex-boyfriend, Jamarcus Glover.

6:56

S… Speaker 4 (Breonna Taylor_ Who She Was, How She Died, Why Justice Is Overdue _ The Daily Social Distancing Show)

She hadn't dated Glover in months. A package police say they saw Glover picking up at Taylor's apartment was likely a pair of shoes, according to the family attorney. And despite what officers were told before the raid, Breonna Taylor certainly did not live alone. When it was all over, police found no drugs, no money in her apartment. Before going into Breonna Taylor's home, police were actually warned that she would be very little threat, if no threat at all. Yes. They used bogus intel.

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S… Speaker 2 (Breonna Taylor_ Who She Was, How She Died, Why Justice Is Overdue _ The Daily Social Distancing Show)

and they came in guns blazing, even though they knew she wasn't a threat. Every step of the way this investigation ran, the police screwed up. They made a million mistakes, which is a million more than any black person is ever allowed to make. And honestly, with the amount of mistakes that the police made throughout the entire process, I don't even know if it's fair to call them mistakes at this point.

7:47

S… Speaker 2 (Breonna Taylor_ Who She Was, How She Died, Why Justice Is Overdue _ The Daily Social Distancing Show)

Because a mistake is something you do by accident. But these cops blatantly ignored so many protocols and so much information, at some point, it moves from a mistake to just actively not giving a .

8:00

S… Speaker 1 (Breonna Taylor_ Who She Was, How She Died, Why Justice Is Overdue _ The Daily Social Distancing Show)

And it's bad enough when you learn what these people did in the heat of the moment, but in a way, what's even worse is what they did when they had the time to think. Breonna Taylor was alive for several minutes after police shot her five times, and for more than 20 minutes after Taylor was fatally shot, Taylor 26 lay where she fell in her hallway, receiving no medical attention, according to dispatch logs. You see her boyfriend after the shooting being arrested here.

8:29

S… Speaker 1 (Breonna Taylor_ Who She Was, How She Died, Why Justice Is Overdue _ The Daily Social Distancing Show)

In the parking lot, police tried to charge him with attempting to kill police officers, but those charges were later dropped. A recently released police incident report from that night is mostly blank. It claims there was no forced entry. It does list Taylor as a victim of a crime. And under injuries, it says none, even though Taylor was shot eight times. You see, it's one thing to, quote, unquote, shoot someone accidentally eight times, but leaving her on the floor...

8:58

S… Speaker 2 (Breonna Taylor_ Who She Was, How She Died, Why Justice Is Overdue _ The Daily Social Distancing Show)

without any medical attention, that isn't an accident. That's just a blatant disregard for black life. And on top of all of that, the cops submitted a mostly blank incident report? Really? You really couldn't think of anything that you could write on that report? Not even, oh, we up? These officers are so bad, they couldn't even solve the murder that they committed? And right now, the attorney general of Kentucky says that they're investigating Breonna Taylor's killing. But it's been four months.

9:24

S… Speaker 3 (Breonna Taylor_ Who She Was, How She Died, Why Justice Is Overdue _ The Daily Social Distancing Show)

And in that four months, they've seemed to find a way to arrest somebody. It's been more than four months since 26-year-old EMT Breonna Taylor was shot and killed in her own home. So far, there have been no charges filed against the three white officers involved. By comparison, though, this week, it took just one day to file felony charges against more than 80 protesters who went to the home of Kentucky Attorney General calling for justice in Breonna's killing. Every single day in America...

9:53

S… Speaker 2 (Breonna Taylor_ Who She Was, How She Died, Why Justice Is Overdue _ The Daily Social Distancing Show)

we're reminded that there are different criminal justice systems, depending on who you are.

10:00

S… Speaker 2 (Breonna Taylor_ Who She Was, How She Died, Why Justice Is Overdue _ The Daily Social Distancing Show)

There's one for the rich, and there's one for the poor. There's one for white people, and there's a different one for black people. And apparently, there's also one for those who oppose police brutality and for those who commit it. Now, I won't lie. The one bit of hope that I have seen from this is that the protests are actually getting results. Because a few months ago, almost nobody had heard of this case.

10:21

S… Speaker 1 (Breonna Taylor_ Who She Was, How She Died, Why Justice Is Overdue _ The Daily Social Distancing Show)

But now, thanks to people taking to the streets and relentlessly pushing for justice, some changes are being made, including Breonna's Law, which bans no-knock warrants in Louisville. But the truth is, we have so much more work to do. Because what happened to Breonna Taylor, it's not just a few bad cops. It's not even really just about the cops.

10:43

S… Speaker 1 (Breonna Taylor_ Who She Was, How She Died, Why Justice Is Overdue _ The Daily Social Distancing Show)

It's also the legislature that gave them the power to break into houses, the judge that signed the warrant, the police department that didn't act against these officers, and the county that charged the protesters for challenging these rules. In other words, what happened to Breonna Taylor wasn't a failure of the system. It was the system working as it's intended. And that is why people are fighting for the system to be changed.

11:09

S… Speaker 1 (Breonna Taylor_ Who She Was, How She Died, Why Justice Is Overdue _ The Daily Social Distancing Show)

Well, that's our show for tonight. But before we go, I just wanted to remind you that America is facing a nationwide poll worker shortage. Now, because most poll workers are over 60 and coronavirus is still in the air, many of them are understandably not showing up. But fewer poll workers means fewer polling stations are open, and it also means longer lines that not everybody can afford to stay and wait in. But the good news is most poll working is paid, and in some states, poll workers can be as young as 16 to join in.

11:38

S… Speaker 1 (Breonna Taylor_ Who She Was, How She Died, Why Justice Is Overdue _ The Daily Social Distancing Show)

Now, I just wanted to say thank you, because over the past few weeks, we've partnered with Power To The Polls to ask all of you to join in if you can, and over 60,000 of you have signed up. So thank you to all of you who are giving your time to save your granny and protect democracy. And if you haven't signed up yet, but you want to join, all you got to do is go to the link below.

Breonna Taylor_ Who She Was, How She Died, Why Justice Is Overdue _ The Daily Social Distancing Show

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