The Update: What does justice really look like?
After months of unanswered cries for justice for victims of police brutality, where do we go from here?
Welcome back to the News. Now. NXT newsletter. If you’re new here, this newsletter serves as an update to the stories that I share in my podcast. You can listen to it HERE.
This week we saw another instance of police violence against a Black person, and still have not made any progress in the quest for justice for Breonna Taylor, yet protesters continue to be arrested in her name. All of this in the middle of a pandemic, and with an enormous hurricane charging toward the Gulf Coast.
More on this and other stories you should know below. Don’t forget, anything underlined and italicized is clickable for more info.
news.
First Lady Melania Trump is the only RNC speaker that called for empathy for those dealing with COVID. House Democrats are opening an investigation into Mike Pompeo’s speech from Jerusalem, concerned that he violated The Hatch Act, which prevents federal employees from participating in partisan politics while on duty. Tonight, Donald Trump is scheduled to make his final speech of the convention, and share that voters have a clear choice between two candidates with distinct ideals.
COVID cases are on the decline, but experts are warning Americans to be on the lookout for hot spots - or parts of the country that will experience outbreaks while other parts of the country continue to decline. Colleges are seeing high numbers of positive cases, and over 70,000 new cases of COVID in children have been reported since the beginning of August.
Hurricane Laura made landfall near the Texas/Louisiana border on Wednesday night, leaving a trail of destruction in her path. Western Louisiana bore the brunt of the damage, with cities like Lake Charles seeing widespread property damage and even the loss of several lives. It has gone on record as one of the strongest storms to hit the United States, and the strongest to hit that portion of the Gulf Coast.
On Sunday in Kenosha, Wisconsin, 29-year-old Jacob Blake, a Black father of 3, was shot 7 times in the back by a police officer responding to a domestic incident. Video of the incident went viral, sparking protests in Kenosha, almost immediately. On Tuesday night, a group of armed militia members from other cities & states took it upon themselves to help police protect “property and lives” in Kenosha. One of those people was 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, who allegedly shot three protesters in the street. Two of those people died. Rittenhouse was allowed to leave, and was arrested Wednesday in his hometown, almost 20 miles away in Illinois. He’s since been hit with six charges, two of which are intentional homicide.
sports.
Professional athletes in the NBA, WNBA, WTA, MLS & MLB elected not to play on Wednesday and Thursday, effectively instituting a strike to call attention to the injustice in Kenosha, and in general across the country. The NBA voted to continue to play out their playoff series in the Orlando bubble, despite some team’s original vote to end the season immediately.
Speaking of the NBA, LA Clippers Guard Paul George attributed some of his poor performance early in the playoffs to depression, noting that he underestimated the role that the isolation of the Bubble would have on his mental health.
now & next.
Breonna Taylor’s death has been a topic of public conversation for months now. In fact, this week 68 people were arrested in a protest calling for her justice. At the same time, Kentucky Attorney General made a speech at the RNC which only mentioned Breonna’s name in passing. It seems like calls for the police who killed Breonna to be arrested are falling on deaf ears. This week on the podcast, I suggested an energy shift - and asked what exactly justice looks like for Breonna’s family, and for the families of other victims of police violence. Here’s an excerpt:
Breonna died in March. It’s almost September. With that being said, I think that it’s time for an energy shift. For months now, people have been calling for Breonna’s killers to be arrested. The story’s been meme’d to oblivion, Breonna’s face has been plastered all over t-shirts, billboards, and magazine covers. Last weekend, Tamika Mallory’s organization Until Freedom even held a multi-day event called the BreonnaCon in Louisville. I don’t necessarily think that any of those things are inherently wrong, but at this point throwing Breonna’s name around has somewhat become trendy - it almost feels like the call for justice is empty - that it’s more so an opportunity for people to virtue signal. To look like they care. Breonna’s not a joke - she’s not a meme - she was a real woman, with goals, dreams, family, and friends who loved her. So what happens if those officers are not arrested?
The bigger question that I now have, is what does justice actually look like? Is it that those officers are convicted of murder? What happens when we have a similar situation happen later down the line? Are we just going to continue to go through this same cycle, begging for people to be arrested? Or are we going to force a change in the legislature that protects police in situations like these?
I’d love to hear your response to the question “What does real justice look like?” Send me a voice note to include in next week’s podcast voicing your opinion. Submit it by clicking HERE.
That’s all for this week. Until we meet again - keep your eyes open.