How to Support the Fight for Justice for Breonna Taylor
Americans are still grappling with the news from September 23 that none of the police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Black medical worker Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, were charged with murder. After Taylor's death in March, there had been large-scale demonstrations to protest what many saw as a grave racial injustice.
It has been a tragedy-filled and contentious year in the United States, and the death of Taylor, along with George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and many others, has galvanized large numbers of Americans to take action against racial injustice.
If you want to help Breonna Taylor's family, as well as millions of others affected by racism, here are a few things you can do.
Donate to Breonna Taylor's Family and Community
Breonna Taylor's family has launched a GoFundMe page to establish a foundation for causes Breonna supported, including youth programs and scholarships to aid Black students pursuing medical careers.
Many protesters in Louisville have been arrested over the past several months and not all have them are able to make cash bail. The Action Network has established a community fund to help bail people out and support them after release.
Support National Organizations and Initiatives
The circumstances around Breonna Taylor's death have received broad, although belated, attention, but many injustices experienced by racial minorities in the United States go unexamined. Donate to organizations that work to expose and prevent racial injustice.
The Loveland Foundation offers important resources and support to Black women and girls.
Committed to protecting "basic human rights," from mass incarceration and excessive punishment to economic disparity, the Equal Justice Initiative is working to reform the American legal system.
Activist group Until Freedom coordinates media, community outreach, and legal counsel to address systemic and racial injustice. It has currently dedicated all of its platforms to Breonna Taylor.
Protests across the United States have led to the arrest of many people, and not all of them can make bail, meaning a disproportionate number of lower income individuals end up incarcerated. The Bail Project helps to rectify this situation by paying their bails.
More: 20 Social Justice Organizations to Support Right Now
Self-Educate
Along with donating time and resources, it's important to understand the history and root causes of the major issues affecting large groups of American citizens.
Watch documentaries like Ava Duvernay's 13th and When They See Us (Netflix), Whose Streets? (Amazon), and Little Rock Central: 50 Years Later (HBO).
Read books, including The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America, An African American and Latinx History of the United States, and Nobody: Casualties of America's War on the Vulnerable. (Here are some great Black-owned bookstores to order them from.)
Lastly, don't forget to vote for politicians who you believe can work on these issues from inside the government.
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