Breonna Taylor: She Had Big Plans Before The Deadly Raid By Police

Breonna Taylor, 26-year-old, had big dreams. Her name became a rallying cry as part of the fight against police brutality and racial injustice. Protestors reminded everyone to take her name even before it came on glossy magazine covers.

Breonna Taylor was working at Steak and Shake. Her job was to drive senior citizens to their appointments. As an ER medical technician, she was living her passion. But, she had a dream to become a nurse, and every member of her family believed that she would become one. “Breewayy” was her nickname given by family, and the reason was, whatever Breonna wanted, she uses to find a way to get it.

Apart from professional life, her personal life was also a thriving one. Her boyfriend was ready for a proposal with an engagement ring, and he was all set to start a family. Taylor always wished that she gives birth to a baby girl in the future, and she has a name in her mind, as said by Ju’Niyah Palmer, her sister. All dreams a plan died with her on March 13 when Louisville officers entered her apartment at midnight without a warrant.

At the time they came in, Taylor was drifting off to sleep since just after watching a movie along with her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker. Officers broke the green door, and the gold No.4 was on it, and they used a battering arm. Walker opened fire since he was in fear about the intruder. Later, officials unleashed a barrage of bullets, and they shoot Taylor. Now, the family is struggling with her death after months. The family says, even after months, her death feels surreal. They believed that Taylor was like glue, which glued them together.

Tamika Palmer, Taylor’s mother, is devastated from her loss, and she was on the bed on Mother’s Day. Taylor would have been 27 by June, and she planned for a dinner at a fancy restaurant, as her mother said. She added, “She loved family gatherings, and would have insisted everyone gets dressed up that day.” Palmer recounted, in a feature for Vanity Fair regarding how she got pregnant with Taylor. She was a teen, and she was terrified her daughter about making the same mistakes. But, it was not valid since Taylor was an achiever and she was goal-oriented. Just by nine months, she started walking, and by age seven, she started using a computer. She always loved to listen as a little girl to Johnnie Taylor’s blue.

Both mother and daughter started to grow up together, and hence they built a close relationship filled with funny anecdotes. The mother recalled her daughter’s morning calls and when she used to ask for a chili recipe soon after an overnight shift at the hospital. She wrote, “Breonna would be in the grocery store at 7 in the morning … calling me like, ‘Mama, what do I need to buy for chili?’” “And I would say, ‘Breonna, can you write this down, because I don’t understand why I got to tell you this all the time.’” The daughter and mother shared a shared passion for motorcycles and muscle cars. Shortly before she dies, Taylor bought her dream car.

Mother wrote, “Breonna’s absolute favorite was the Dodge Charger. She was on her second one — a 2019 Dodge Charger R/T,” “She was so proud of this car, it was her baby. And she got these pipes on it. It’s got dual exhaust, so you get the vroom!” Now, calls for justice are spreading, and it went beyond Louisville. Her death has resonated even beyond Louisville. For more than weeks, protesters were seen on streets nationwide, and they are demanding justice. But, none of the officers are currently charged for a crime, and one was fired, and the other two remain in force. When compared to the case of George Floyd, who died when a Minneapolis officer pinned him on his knee even after he pleaded, he was not able to breathe; in this case, there is no police body camera video.

Louisville even has passed “Breonna’s Law.”Based on that, there were no-knock warrants, and that does require officers to carry search warrants to carry body cameras. NBA player LeBron James and other celebrities such as Beyonce also joined and demanding justice in Taylor’s case. She was on the cover page in Oprah Winfrey’s magazine, and she set up billboards with Taylor’s image across Louisville. An assistant professor at Louisiana State University, David Stamps, said, “Her death is a reminder that Black women are suffering, too, at the hands of law enforcement, and the intersections of race and gender need to be acknowledged.”

Stamps said, “Breonna Taylor, like Sandra Bland, and other Black women, are often relegated to the back row as the emphasis is typically placed on the systemic racism and brutality that Black men face,” “This is why Breonna Taylor is an icon, she reminds us that we need to #SayHerName and that all Black life matters.” But, previous relationships made the police to stand at her doors. Taylor was on the happiness path, but it was not always smooth. She was in a relationship with Jamarcus Glover earlier, and he is an alleged crack cocaine dealer. Jamarcus was the primary reason behind the police visit to Taylor’s place.

Court records show that a judge had earlier approved five no-knock search warrants, and it was on the day before she killed. The search warrants were mainly for locations that are linked to Glover, who was suspected of a local drug house supplier. Among these locations, one was Taylor’s apartment too. The current home address he quoted as Glover used Taylor’s residence and the data is based on online databases by Feb 20. He was receiving all his mails at the location, and it was based on an affidavit for a search warrant. The affidavit also revealed that a detective saw Glover going inside Taylor’s apartment in January, and he left with a package after a while. Later he drove to a nearby “known drug house.”

But, there was no activity mentioned regarding Taylor in March. Taylor’s family attorney said, The police information was wrong and outdated. Any mail Glover may have received at her apartment would have been innocuous items such as clothes or shoes, they said.” Her family revealed that, She once dated Glover but wasn’t involved in the alleged drug operation. She had prohibited him from bringing that aspect of his life into her personal life.”