Can you just imagine, you are a hard working, law abiding woman. You go to bed in the comforts of your home and in the protection and warmth of your man’s arms. Hoodlums dressed in blue kick open your door, break into your home with guns drawn forever disturbing your peace and that of your community and your loved ones. Imagine that…
These thugs, all dressed in blue, shoot and murder you. You never saw it coming. You died not knowing that it was your tax dollars that paid the salary of the hoodlums who murdered you and falsely arrested your man. Drama and trauma all rolled into one and all you were trying to do was get a good night sleep. The thugs in blue, were in fact cops on the local municipal payroll. You were an EMT and might have even worked with them or someday saved their lives. Now they have murdered you. Imagine that…
The cover up begins. Your man is arrested for doing what men are supposed to do, defend his woman and protect his household. You are now in a black body bag. He is now in an orange body suit. How in the hell did that happen when all you did was go to bed in the comforts of your own home. Self defense in one’s home is not a crime but now your man, who rightfully shot in self- defense, is being paraded like a criminal before the media by the criminals who killed you. One can only imagine what is going through his mind. Thank God for Judge Olu Stevens who brought justice to this matter and released Mr. Walker with no bail pending trial for commission of no crime. A Black judge committed to justice did that! Imagine “Justice for all” in America.
You were aware of the endless incidents of Black lives ended by poorly trained, fearful, or just plain violent police. Never could you have imagined when you put your head on your pillow on that fateful night in March that your name would be added to a long list of infamous Black folks murdered for no reason other than simply “living while black.”
Against your will, you are now part of an ever-growing list of innocent Blacks folks who die victims in infamy at the hands of murderous cops. And all you ever wanted was a good night sleep in the comfort of your man’s arms. Instead, in a flash and without notice, your life, your dreams, your future and that of your man is over. Your light and his have been extinguished. You are forever gone. He is forever changed. It hurts to imagine that.
And to think that all the cops had to do was knock and respect you and your man in your home as they would have done given another zip code. Across town, there is no presumption of guilt nor fear of retaliation for all the harm they have inflicted upon the community. Across town, never would they have violated you or the sanctity of your home in the wee hours of the morning murdering you and arresting your man. Across town, they would have done their homework and realized before kicking in your door while you slept in your man’s arms that yours was the wrong address and that law enforcement already had in custody the man they were seeking. Across town I imagine that still you would be alive nursing and tending to wounded cops, their friends, their families or other innocent victims of their crimes such as yourself. Across town, there would be justice and accountability for what happened to you and your man. I would like to imagine the same for your community and your loved ones. Instead, I imagine their pain.
Imagining Breonna; Say Her Name…
by Helen Higginbotham, Esq., MBAÂ Â Freelance Writer, NJ
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