BLACK VOTERS MATTER

How Voters Held Cameron Accountable For Denying Breonna Taylor Justice

The community found a way to hold power to account, even when traditional pathways failed

Justice delayed is justice denied,” protesters shouted after learning a Louisville police officer fatally shot 26-year-old Breonna Taylor, an emergency room technician who was lying in bed near her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, at the time of the incident. Using a no-knock warrant, officers burst into the apartment, guns blazing. Believing someone was trying to break in, Walker sought to defend himself and Breonna to the best of his ability. Sadly, Myles Cosgrove, one of the officer’s bullets, struck Breonna Taylor, robbing her of life and liberty. As the dust settled, Breonna Taylor’s family demanded accountability from officials. These calls only amplified once the public discovered the no-knock warrant did not list Breonna Taylor or Kenneth Walkers’ names; police had no legal right to detain them, let alone recklessly discharge their weapons. While no one denies the fact that a Louisville police officer shot and killed Breonna Taylor, this hasn’t been an open-shut case. Why haven’t any police officers been held accountable for their actions?

For many, that answer is Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron. Months after Breonna Taylor’s death, Cameron claimed the Louisville Metro Police Department officers’ use of force was “justified,” according to Kentucky law. The only charges Cameron, the county’s first Black District Attorney, recommended were filed against an officer “accused of endangering Taylor’s neighbors” instead of the man responsible for killing Taylor. Often, White people are the ones who hold the majority of power and use their leverage to deny justice to Black victims, but not this time. As a Black district attorney, the community expected Cameron to pursue justice for Breonna Taylor’s murder. When he didn’t, many felt the sting of betrayal.

This decision, allowing police to get away with the murder of an unarmed Black woman, haunted Cameron’s career ever since, his reputation forever tainted. To make matters worse, Cameron never acknowledged his mistake, claiming he “followed the law without fear or favor.” However, killing an unarmed Black woman in her bedroom is not legal, and you don’t have to go to law school to understand that point. One could ask, what good is the law if it can’t protect citizens equally if the murder of a White woman is quickly adjudicated and the murder of a Black woman is called “justified?”

Like many conservatives, Cameron did not read the room, or social media threads for that matter. The writing had been on the walls for months that the black community condemned his actions as complicity, something he never addressed. Not sure who he had whispering in his ear, but Cameron believed he had a shot at becoming the next governor of Kentucky. Perhaps he thought that the majority of conservative White voters he pandered to would support him and that their votes would be enough to overcome the Black voters he disappointed as District Attorney. However, on Tuesday, voters showed up in large numbers to shun Cameron and finally delivered some form of accountability. While the public could not hold the actual officers responsible, they did hold the man who called Breonna Taylor’s death “justified” to account.

Voters are the ones who choose prosecutors in local elections. So, if they see something they don’t like, like someone refusing to hold power to account, they can use their vote to hold elected officials accountable. It’s something elected officials know, but often when people don’t show up to vote, they aren’t held to account. While there has been a lot of water cooler talk lately about people threatening to withhold their vote in the next presidential election, that is not an effective way of holding individual politicians or the system accountable. The government, whether on the local, state, or federal level, will not disappear into thin air if you don’t vote. Indeed, people will continue to hold public office and make decisions that impact our lives.

While many people claim they are holding officials accountable by withholding their votes, those who show up to the polls are the ones who wield their political power. Voters denied Cameron a gubernatorial seat for negligence in seeking justice for Breonna Taylor. This is real accountability, and it also sends a message that Black people are paying attention to who holds power in this country and what they do with their power. When Black Americans bring up the injustices they experience, their cries are often dismissed by those in power. However, by showing up to the polls, the community delivered some accountability, not for the actual officers responsible, but for the man who called her death “justified,” who failed to hold police accountable for violating Taylor and Kenneth Walker’s civil rights.

Breonna Taylor’s right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness was cruelly cut short by overzealous officers. Last spring, the Louisville officer who killed Breonna Taylor was hired by another police department in a nearby county, highlighting the danger of Cameron’s failure. While city officials passed “Breonna’s Law,” which banned the use of no-knock warrants in the future, America has failed to pass substantive criminal justice reform, and dangerous police continue to roam our streets under the guise of public safety.

This is a reminder and a message, not just for Daniel Cameron but all elected officials, that their power can be taken away if they fail to meet the public’s expectations.

Author’s Note:

Sadly, when the victim is Black, there is significantly less momentum to solve their cases and seek justice. We see this phenomenon not only in police brutality cases but also in missing persons cases. “According to the National Crime Information Center, nearly 40 percent of those who have disappeared” were Black people or people of color, which is disturbing when you consider Black Americans only make up 13% of the population. Black lives should matter, but far too often, they don’t, at least not to those in positions of power.

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