Rally at Academy Green remembers Taylor
On first anniversary of Kentucky woman’s death, event’s participants call for end of no-knock search warrants
About 100people came to Academy Green to pay tribute to Breonna Taylor a year after she was shot to death by police in Kentucky.
KINGSTON, N.Y. » About 100 supporters carrying signs and banners gathered on Saturday on Academy Green to pay tribute to Breonna Taylor and to demand an end to police shootings of innocent civilians.
Taylor, 26, a Black woman who was shot to death by police in her Louisville, Kentucky, apartment one year ago, was an apparent victim of mistaken identity.
Taylor was killed in her own bed during a botched raid of her apartment conducted with the use of a noknock warrant. No charges have been lodged against the police officers responsible for Taylor’s death, but one detective involved in the raid was indicted for wanton endangerment of Taylor’s neighbor’s apartment wall, which was hit by gunfire. He has pleaded not guilty.
Speaker after speaker Saturday called on those gathered to say Taylor’s name aloud as they joined in solidarity with similar gatherings being held across the United States.
Lisa Royer of Rise Up Kington said she had spoken with Taylor’s aunt, who asked marchers Saturday to work to ensure that the Breonna Taylor Law banning no-knock search warrants is passed on the federal level. Louisville has since banned no-knock warrants from being executed in the city.
“In remembrance of her life and the impact she had on so many, we’re coming together today in solidarity to demand a ban on no-knock warrants in every city, in every state, all across the U.S.” Royer said.
Marissa Joy, a candidate for Ulster County Legislature District 12 in Plattekill, discussed the concept of defunding police, explaining it as being “simply about returning the cops to fighting crime and letting the community serve and protect.”
“Ask yourselves: Why does a human trained to shoot to kill respond to a mental health emergency? Why does a human with a gun walk the halls of an elementary school? Why does a human with a taser respond to a student having an autistic meltdown? Why does a human with a baton show up bearing an eviction notice? ‘Defund the police’ is not about removing police from all areas of the world. … It’s about returning them to what they want to do because they don’t want to be out here responding to our mental health issues. They want to protect and serve, so let them do what they want to do,” Joy said.
Saturday’s rally was organized by Rise Up Kingston, Wednesday Walk For Black Lives, The Real Kingston Tenants Union, End the New Jim Crow Action Network, the A.J. Williams-Meyers African Roots Center, Midtown Rising, Ellenville NAACP, CommUNITY Youth For Change, the De Facto Community Center Project and Mid-Hudson Valley Citizen Action.
Online: A photo gallery from the rally is posted with this story at DAILYFREEMAN.COM.