Grand Rapids, MI – Over 100 protesters rallied for a “Breonna Taylor: Say Her Name Louder” march on Saturday, March 13. The one-mile march in downtown Grand Rapids commemorated one year since Louisville, Kentucky police murdered Breonna Taylor in her own home.

Breonna Taylor was a 26-year-old Black woman who worked as an EMT and hospital emergency room technician. She was spending a quiet night at home when police broke down her door and shot her six times without cause. The police lied repeatedly about the entire incident from start to finish. This includes lying about the basis of their investigation, their forced entry into her apartment, physical evidence of one officer being shot by another cop, and other facts.

No police officer was ever arrested or indicted for shooting Breonna Taylor.

DeeDee Chaunte, president of Family Over Everything, emphasized, “We are protesting and marching because enough is enough. After a year, if they haven’t heard us, we must get louder! With people around the country and in parts of the world, Family Over Everything joins together to ‘Say her name louder!’”

Chaunte continued, “Breonna Taylor’s family will be on the ground in Louisville, Kentucky, and organizers in several states and cities will be as well. Solidarity!”

During the rally and march, speakers demanded that justice be served through instituting community control of the police, so that no one suffers like Breonna Taylor and her family again. Earlier in the week, during a similar march calling for “Justice for George Floyd” Grand Rapids police targeted and arrested eight protest leaders.

Breonna Taylor was a native of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

#GrandRapidsMI #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #GeorgeFloyd #BreonnaTaylor

Chicago, IL – Many who arrived at 35th Street and Michigan Avenue on September 24 were visibly upset, given the failure of Kentucky’s attorney general to indict and prosecute the Louisville cops who murdered Breonna Taylor.

A statement by the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression declared that the decision “meant to serve notice on Black and brown people everywhere in the United States that they are not safe from police murderers, even in their own homes.”

The voice of Tanya Watkins, an organizer with Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation, was shaking as she took the mic. “The mayor said she supports our right to protest, but when we show up in the street, she blocks us off. That doesn’t look like support,” she said, gesturing toward the three city-owned salt trucks parked in front of police headquarters to keep protesters from the street in front of the building.

Cassandra Greer-Lee also took the mic. Her husband, Nickolas Lee, died of COVID-19 while awaiting trial in Cook County Jail in April. Referring to the many cops present, Greer-Lee said, “You cannot move me. No matter how many ‘back the blue’ shirts you have, you will not intimidate me!”

The protesters vowed to continue to struggle for justice for the many victims of police crimes, and to intensify their demand for an elected, civilian police accountability council (CPAC) to be enacted by the city council.

#ChicagoIL #PoliceBrutality #PeoplesStruggles #BreonnaTaylor

New York, NY – On September 23, the Louisville, Kentucky court system passed down the decision that none of the three cops involved with the murder of Breonna Taylor, a Black woman and emergency medical technician, would be indicted for her killing. Rather, they charged one officer with wanton endangerment for his bullets potentially putting her neighbors in danger.

The extreme miscarriage of justice prompted thousands to take the streets demanding justice for Breonna Taylor, the people of Louisville, and Black lives all over the country. There were two events announced in New York, both starting at 7 p.m., one in Manhattan and the other in Brooklyn.

The crowd in Brooklyn began to gather early. Hundreds poured out of the Atlantic-Barclays train station with signs reading “Black lives matter” and the names of those murdered by the NYPD. The organizers of the rally gave rousing speeches about the law, justice and the worth of life of Black people in this country.

There was a moment of silence where the speaker asked everyone to lie down for eight minutes and 46 seconds, the amount of time that it took Derek Chauvin to murder George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The march started soon after, and the massive crowd left for Manhattan Bridge. The whole time, chants of “Black lives matter” and “Say her name” echoed throughout the streets.

#NewYorkNY #PoliceBrutality #PeoplesStruggles #BreonnaTaylor

Minneapolis, MN – 1000 people rallied and marched to protest the announcement that no one would be charged for the murder of Breonna Taylor. Organized by Black Lives Matter Minnesota, Twin Cities Coalition for Justice 4 Jamar, Black Lives Matter Twin Cities Metro and others, the group rallied at the state capitol on September 23, and then marched about four miles, including taking over Interstate 94. Three protesters were arrested but released the later that night.

#MinneapolisMN #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #Minnesota #Antiracism #TwinCities #BreonnaTaylor

Minneapolis, MN – On July 18, hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Minneapolis to demand justice for women lost to state violence. Organized by the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC), the protest focused on Vanessa Guillen and Breonna Taylor. The dual focus on Vanessa Guillen, who was Latina, and Breonna Taylor, who was Black, aimed to build unity between Black and Latino communities as well as other communities in the struggle for justice.

The protest took place in the Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis. After a lakeside rally at Bde Mka Ska, protesters marched to the intersection of Hennepin Avenue and Lake Street, one of the busiest spots in the city, where they held a rally in the intersection for around a half hour.

Several people spoke there about the need for justice for Breonna Taylor and Vanessa Guillen. Then in the middle of the intersection, protesters took turns breaking open two piñatas that were in the shape of pigs, one with a police insignia and one with an ICE insignia.

After the speakers and piñatas, the protesters marched back to Bde Mka Ska for a closing rally, ending just before the skies opened up with heavy rains.

Vanessa Guillen was a 20-year-old Latina U.S. Army soldier who went missing on April 22 from Fort Hood in Texas and was missing for months. Her remains were finally found on June 30, having been brutally murdered and dismembered by a sergeant. Before she went missing, Guillen had told her family that she was being sexually harassed by a sergeant and that complaints by other female soldiers made against him had been dismissed.

Breonna Taylor was a 26-year-old Black woman who was murdered by the Louisville Metro Police Department on March 13, when three plainclothes cops executed a no-knock search warrant on her apartment. Taylor’s boyfriend said they thought that the plainclothes cops were intruders. When they tried to defend themselves in their own home, the cops fired more than 20 rounds, murdering Breonna Taylor.

In addition to demanding justice for Guillen and Taylor, speakers highlighted other cases of women murdered by the police. A speaker from Native Lives Matter demanded justice for the many Native women murdered by the police. An Afro-Brazilian speaker talked about the case of Marielle Franco, a Black socialist woman active against police brutality in Brazil who was on the city council in Rio de Janeiro and was assassinated by right-wing former police officers in 2018.

The protesters made three demands in response to the murder of Vanessa Guillen: shut down Fort Hood (Vanessa’s case is not the only one like this there); stop setting up military recruitment stations in high schools, especially in low-income schools, and a congressional investigation for Guillen.

In response to the murder of Breonna Taylor the protesters raised four demands: that the Louisville mayor and city council address the use of force by the Louisville Metro Police Department; fire and revoke the pensions of the officers that murdered Taylor; arrest, charge and convict them for this crime and ensure special prosecutor Daniel Cameron seeks full transparency and accountability; provide all necessary information to a local, independent civilian community police accountability council, and create policy for transparent investigation process due to law enforcement misconduct.

#MinneapolisMN #InJusticeSystem #PeoplesStruggles #MIRAc #VanessaGuillén #BreonnaTaylor