In the Fight for Black Lives, Don't Forget Black Women

I heard my Pastor lead prayer for Black men this morning, and I cringed. Not because there is anything wrong with prayer, nor the prayer he prayed, nor anything wrong with praying for Black Men. After the videos of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man who made the mistake of going for a jog and was murdered by two white supremacists, and Sean Reed, who after being unnecessarily gunned down by officers while fleeing, was made fun of by those officers who suggested a closed casket.

We have been doing a lot of talking about Ahmaud Arbery and Sean Reed, lives that mattered, lives that were lost. But in these discussions of these men, men whose lives mattered and who deserve justice, where is the discussion of Breonna Taylor? While I appreciated the prayer, our men need the encouragement and protection that the Lord can provide, I was perturbed. I found myself saying, out loud, "Yes Ahmaud, yes Sean, but what about Breonna, pastor?" Do Black Women need less prayer, less support, less protection just because we are women.

The stories and data say otherwise.

Breonna Taylor, an awarded EMT who served in Louisville, Kentucky, was shot to death during a botched no-knock warrant job by the Louisville police. During this botched job, 3 police officers in plainclothes, despite insisting they announced themselves, attempted to serve the no-knock warrant by entering the home where Breonna and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, were sleeping. Hearing what they perceived to be a break-in, Kenneth called 911 and grabbed his gun (which before you ask, yes, he was licensed to carry) and went to investigate. From his perspective, there were multiple burglars in his home. He opened fire. The police sprayed the home, unloading 25 shots into the home, 8 of those shots hit Breonna, killing her.

The suspect these officers were supposed to be serving lived 10 miles away from Breonna.

This is not an isolated event. Not too long ago, Atatiana Jefferson, a 28-year-old pre-med student, was shot in her own home by former officer, Aaron Dean, 35, when police were called for a wellness check at her home by a neighbor. Atatiana was babysitting her 8-year-old nephew, playing video games together when Dean, who did not announce himself, fired at Atatiana, killing her.

Yet, when it comes to the call for justice, the calls for justice seem more mum for her than they do for other unfortunate victims of this type of violence. When it comes to Women, we rarely, if ever hear their names at the center of movements. According to  Kanya Bennett of the ACLU:

"Black women, like Charleena Lyles in Seattle, were pregnant when killed by police. They were experiencing mental health crises, like Shukri Ali in Georgia and Deborah Danner in New York. They were hanging out with friends, like Rekia Boyd in Chicago. They had merely taken a wrong turn while driving, like Mya Hall in Maryland and Miriam Carey in Washington, D.C. And Black girls, like Aiyana Stanley-Jones in Detroit, were doing nothing more than sleeping when killed by police."

There are too many other names to count. According to Andrea Ritchie in her piece for the New York Times: 

"Tarika Wilson, shot to death by a SWAT team in 2008 in Ohio, as she stood, unarmed in a bedroom with her six children, holding her 1-year-old baby. Some were pregnant, like Danette Daniels, shot to death by a New Jersey police officer following a drug arrest. Some, like Frankie Perkins and Theresa Henderson, were choked to death by officers who believed — erroneously, it turned out — that they had swallowed drugs. In one case, a transgender teenager named Shelly Hilliard was brutally murdered after being set up by police as an informant."

Let's not forget Rosann Miller, a black woman who, while seven months pregnant, claims she was placed in a chokehold by a New York City police officer during an altercation started over the use of a barbecue outside her own home.

Let us also not forget the added violence that occurs with Black Transwomen. According to the Human Rights Campaign, 

“While the details of these cases differ, it is clear that fatal violence disproportionately affects transgender women of color — particularly Black transgender women — and that the intersections of racism, sexism, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia and unchecked access to guns conspire to deprive them of employment, housing, healthcare and other necessities.”

The Black Trans Community, according to the HRC, has experienced the deaths of at least 11 transgender or gender non-conforming people. They estimate this number as acts of violence in this community still often go underreported or misreported.

The latest life lost is Nina Pop, the fifth known violent transgender women of color death in the past several weeks. Nina, a 28-year- old was violently stabbed. Arrests have yet to be made.

Brutality is not the only form of violence committed against Black Women. Sexual assault happens as well. Lest we forget (and we have not) Chikesia Clemons, who after refusing to pay for plastic utensils with her order at an Alabama Waffle House, was brutally assaulted by police officers. During the assault, she was thrown to the floor, her top shifted, exposing her breasts to an entire restaurant of patrons, a few who were recording the altercation.

Let us also not forget Charneshia Corley, who was forced from her car at a gas station after a police officer claimed he smelled marijuana during a traffic stop. Two female officers forced Charneshia legs apart and proceeded to probe her vagina, all while in full view of passers-by. Similar incidents happened to two other Black women. Both Alexandria Randle and Brandy Hamilton were also subjected to a forced roadside cavity searches by officers who claimed to have smelled marijuana.

This is not an isolated incident. Going back to 1986 in Massachusetts, police officers raided Shirley Rodriques’s house, finding her sleeping in bed with her husband. These officers told her that they had a warrant to search her vagina for drugs. When she flatly refused their order to reach inside of her own body to take out the "stuff", police arrested her, forced her into a hospital where, Shirley claims a "physician forcefully searched her vagina while a nurse held her down on the table." No drugs were ever found.
The ACLU reminds us:

"We must also consider other forms of police violence that impact Black women and women of color, like sexual assault. Sexual abuse is the second most reported form of police misconduct after use of excessive force. The conviction of an Oklahoma City officer for the rape and sexual assault of 13 Black women represents some of the anecdotal evidence of how Black women experience sexual violence by police."

In the case of the aforementioned former Oklahoma City officer, Daniel Holtzclaw, who is currently serving a 263-year sentence for the sexual assault of 13 Black Women and girls, said he "targeted young women, women who used drugs and women he believed to be "working girls.""

These are not isolated incidents. As in the officer convicted in Oklahoma City, a New York City officer was also convicted in 2010 of official misconduct when he offered "to rip up a summons" in exchange for oral sex in parks after dark.

New York Detectives, Eddie Martins, 37, and Richard Hall, 33, who while in plainclothes, pulled over the car driven by the 18-year-old Black woman, arrested her for drug possession, then took turns raping her in the back seat. They have since resigned from the force.

These incidents where justice seems to have been served are very rare. A study found that in 41% of these cases, officers charged with sexual violence were previously accused of sexual misconduct, not once, but between two and twenty-one prior allegations, but were allowed to remain on their individual forces.

As Andrea Ritchie calls it, "Black women’s mere presence, speech, and protest of mistreatment...[are] a threat that officers meet with physical or even deadly force." Knowing this, it puts Black women at unique peril in cases of brutality and violence. Black men are often mistreated, brutalized, and in some cases, even murdered. Black women face those same realities with the additional peril of sexual violence.

Black women's stories matter just as much as victims of violence as Black Men. Yet Black men often take center stage in the social justice movement. When Black men and boys are harmed, the entire community comes together: Black men often seeing themselves in the victims, Black women often seeing these victims as their sons, husbands, boyfriends, members of their communities. However, when the victims are Black women, often, the voices raised calling for justice are majority Black women. Where is the support for Black Women in the call for justice? Why are our stories forced to the side, the back, or completely omitted? Why do we, who stand alongside our brothers, posters, ballots, and legislation in hand ready to combat hatred and injustice for our men and boys, suddenly find ourselves alone in the fight for our women and girls?

Breonna matters just as much as Ahmaud. Our brother's matter just as much as our sisters. Black Lives cannot matter until Black Women's lives matter, and as much as Black Men's lives.

Black Lives cannot matter until all Black Lives Matter.