A Social Media Thread on Breonna Taylor and Police Reform
Back on September 23, 2020, I posted the following on Facebook:
This 2-part series by the NYT Daily podcast on the killing of Breonna Taylor is in-depth and enlightening. It’s a helpful listen in light of today’s ruling. My heart goes out to #BreonnaTaylor’s family. She should be very alive and well right now. Her death was unjust, untimely, and unnecessary.
As you might imagine, a hearty discussion sprang up in the comments. I want to share one comment here, that I wrote, in response to a friend’s question. Note that this was originally written in the midst of a dialogue and as an unpolished answer to her question. Because it’s a question I see frequently online and in real life conversations, I want to leave it here on my blog for whomever it may interest.
Friend’s Question: As a result of the killing of Breonna Taylor, what reforms would you like to see?
My Answer:
I think Breonna’s Law is one fantastic step in the right direction. I would love to see it go national. In answering your question, I want to stay close to this thread, as it would be really easy to run down a number of rabbit trails here. The initial reason I shared the two Daily podcast episodes was to increase awareness in my sphere of what really happened in Taylor’s case. I wanted the people I know to know how recklessly the investigation was carried out before, during, and after law enforcement’s violent intrusion into her home in the middle of the night. Greater awareness is needed in our community, in my opinion, because stuff like that does not happen to you and me and people like us. We who are white, wealthy, and live in Parker never live under the duress of wondering what will happen to us at the hands of law enforcement. We are quick to explain it away or even blame the victim, rather than taking a long hard look at what’s really going on in marginalized communities across our country.
So in keeping with my intention of why I posted in the first place, I think reform is needed at multiple levels so that marginalized communities can experience the same Constitutional protections that you and I enjoy. The investigation involved multiple participants: police officers, investigators, prosecutors, and at least one judge. Somewhere amongst those dozens of people and dozens (hundreds?) of steps there should have been several speed bumps in place (or at least a culture of heeding the speed bumps that are already in place). Multiple people should have questioned what they were doing (everything from cutting and pasting the affidavit for the warrant so that nothing specific was mentioned about Taylor but allowed for this kind of force to be used on her home anyway…to one police officer or another questioning why they were ramming into the home of a “soft target”…to someone not sending away an ambulance that was at first brought to the site). My concern is that they handled her case recklessly on multiple levels.
I think that reveals two things:
1) a carelessness in our country when dealing with certain communities and
2) a lack of accountability amongst those in power.
Reckless law enforcement like this does not happen in Parker because we have the wealth, resources, and power to strike back. There are plenty of drugs in our community but raids like this don’t happen to us because we would never stand for it. The marginalized don’t have the resources to respond when they are wrongly overpowered. And because they cannot respond, they are dealt with with less care. Those in power don’t have to worry about being held accountable.
I don’t have the space or the expertise to speak at length about our so-called War on Drugs…but I do know that in an effort to reduce drug trafficking across the nation (which is a good goal) law enforcement has targeted marginalized communities. The means toward this good goal have had the terrible consequence of marginalized communities being overly policed, overly targeted, and overly incarcerated. The fervor to make war on the drug trade has led to a higher value being placed on finding evidence and capturing traffickers than on protecting innocent bystanders in the process. This is upside down.
To bring this extremely close to home…Mark and I were talking this morning about his stepfather (now deceased) who abused drugs during Mark’s childhood and teenage years. He had the benefit of going into Denver to purchase his drugs and going back to the suburbs to use them. He had the protection of wealth and his suburban community, which prevented him from being targeted by law enforcement. Thankfully he did, because that kept Mark and Amy and their mom safe. In a different neighborhood, Mark’s mom could have been Breonna Taylor. I am so glad she didn’t pay with her life for the unwise choice of being in a relationship with a drug user.
I think we need to be looking for some useful ways across the country to provide more checks and balances in our police force, like limiting qualified immunity and other means by which bad cops get repeated cover (internal review boards and overly protective police unions, for example—I discuss this on All Things Episode 44). Derek Chauvin, for example, the officer who choked George Floyd, had 17 complaints against him (including one where he shot an unarmed man on a domestic call) and he likely should not have been in uniform on that fateful day.
Another helpful limitation would be, for example, looking at the skyrocketing use of ketamine when police arrest someone they say they cannot control. In the case of 140 pound Elijah McClain, he was given almost twice the allowable amount for his size and it killed him. He was being held down by 6 officers who claimed they couldn’t control him, so they gave him this lethal sedative. Elijah’s case isn’t unique. Ketamine was administered 902 times in Denver between 2018 and 2020 and 17% of the cases caused complications or death. A healthcare worker in our church shared with me last week that local doctors are very alarmed at how widely ketamine is being wrongly administered. But again—they can do that in marginalized communities because the marginalized don’t have a way of fighting back. Respect, dignity, and care for the community is low, so policing in that community is reckless, and it’s an ongoing cycle.
I am not in favor of defunding the police by any means. I am pro-blue lives. I know there are so many good cops who carry out their job with integrity, care, and precision. I praise God for them and I want their tribe to increase! I want our police to be well-trained and well-equipped and well cared for. I want them to be empowered and enabled to do an excellent job in our cities. It’s crucial, I think, that more resources be provided to law enforcement. More training, more knowledge, more tools, for example, for better understanding mental health, dynamics in poor communities, and how to better deescalate. There is so much fear and distrust between law enforcement and marginalized communities and that needs to change. There needs to be better mental healthcare provided to our police officers—they need care and structures in place to help them operate from a place of security rather than fear.
A friend whose father is a cop sent me a super interesting video about this exact issue (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INVlb4pQA-U&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3LEu2nU5NVtb6lg4sDQ3DEdh9PsgaIvt9pNK19Sh9HHvp3Lao_nHuTmso). The police officer in the video (who now provides training for police officers around the world) talks about the toxic culture inside precincts and practical ways police culture can be enhanced and supported to be a better force for good in our communities. I wouldn’t be opposed to more funding our police if we could make some important paradigm shifts in how they operate amongst specific people groups in our country.
Well, this is long! :-) Really, I just want to keep highlighting injustice amongst anyone who cares what I have to say. We experience so much justice and ease in Parker, and to whom much is given, much is required. I am for law and order. I am for police. But I want to be for GOOD laws and JUST order and ETHICAL policing. When we find evidence that those are missing, it’s on us—we who can speak for those who cannot—to raise our voices.
What happened to Breonna wasn’t a one-off. It’s part of a pattern whereby certain populations are treated with partiality. That needs to be reformed.