On Breonna Taylor: “Once Again, Black People Are Forced To Be The Architects Of Their Own Freedom”
LOUISVILLE, KY (September 16, 2020) -- Marc H. Morial, President and CEO of the National Urban League, and Sadiqa N. Reynolds, Esq., President & CEO of the Louisville Urban League, issued the following joint statement in response to the unprecedented settlement agreement between Louisville Metro Government and the family of Breonna Taylor.
We have no actuarial to calculate the price of a child’s life for a grieving mother, but the family’s remarkable achievement could mean that no other Louisville mother must walk in the shoes of Tamika Palmer, Breonna Taylor’s mother.
The reforms upon which the family insisted, while enveloped in their own suffering, could have saved Breonna’s life had they been in place earlier.
It is not lost on us that once again, Black people--through the gritted teeth of our own trauma and pain--are yet again forced to be the architects and orchestrators of our own freedom. It is long past time for America to recognize that survivors like Mamie Till (Emmett Till), Letetra Widmen (Jacob Blake), Michael Brown Sr. and Lesley McSpadden (Michael Brown, Jr.), Gwen Carr (Eric Garner), and Tamika Palmer have been forced to act as instruments of change against systems that simply refuse to see us as human or equal.
It must end.
It is not the responsibility of Black people to repair or dismantle the racist systems that seek to degrade and dehumanize us at every turn, but we will act when those in power will not. In June, National Urban Affiliate, the Louisville Urban League released A Path Forward for Louisville, a comprehensive blueprint for addressing the needs of the Black community. Breonna’s family and counsel yesterday highlighted this plan as a model to be supported and followed.
We join the nation in anticipating the prompt decision of Kentucky Attorney General, Daniel Cameron. We join Breonna Taylor’s family in demanding that Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer and other public and private sector leaders invest in the priorities outlined by a grieving mother and the community that stands with her. Now more than ever, our country must blaze a path forward.
The National Urban League is a historic civil rights organization dedicated to economic empowerment in order to elevate the standard of living in historically underserved urban communities. The National Urban League spearheads the efforts of its 90 local affiliates through the development of programs, public policy research and advocacy, providing direct services that impact and improve the lives of more than 2 million people annually nationwide. Visit www.nul.org and follow us on Twitter and Instagram: @NatUrbanLeague.