LOCAL NEWS: Woman Hula-Hooping For Victims Of Violent, Unsolved Murder

#SayHerName: Black Women And Girls Killed By Police

[caption id="attachment_4104720" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Source: APU GOMES / Getty[/caption] UPDATED: 10:00 a.m. ET, April 21, 2021 With the high-profile nature of Breonna Taylor's killing on March 13, 2020, she has all but come to symbolize police violence against Black women. But the truth is that the 26-year-old EMT who was killed in a hail of police bullets blindly fired into her home during the botched execution of a suspiciously obtained no-knock warrant is far from the only Black woman who has been victims of cops in instances of preventable violence. And even though police brutality and police-involved shootings of countless unarmed Black people have gained national attention, Black women victims are sometimes lost in the sea of Black men who are killed. That initially was the case for Taylor, worse home was incorrectly targeted for drugs in search of a man the Louisville Metro Police Department already had in custody. When her boyfriend suspected the unannounced cops were burglars, he legally fired his gun at the door. Police returned fire and shot them both, Taylor fatally. https://twitter.com/MsPackyetti/status/1260196437784174592?s=20 As it turned out, the police targeted the wrong address and there were no drugs at the home. Still, the police charged Taylor's boyfriend with attempted murder. None of the officers involved was required to wear body cameras. On Tuesday as Black communities breathed a sigh of relief that George Floyd's murderer was found guilty on all accounts, Ma'Khia Bryant, a 16-year-old girl was killed at the hands of police in Columbus, Ohio. Police released dash cam footage of the treacherous shooting which showed police responding to a physical altercation outside of a Columbus home. Reports surfaced that Ma'Khia called the police to the residence because she was fearful of her safety. Footage shows police approach the home as a group of young people standing in a driveway. The video appears to show Bryant as she pushes or swings at an individual who falls to the ground. Bryant then seems to swing a knife at a girl who is seated on the hood of a car. Police fire what sounds like four shots at Bryant, fatally striking her. Bryant's shooting comes in the wake of back-to-back excessive force shootings in Columbus resulting in the deaths of three men, Miles Jackson, Casey Goodson Jr., and Andre Hill. Her family launched a GoFundMe as an effort to raise funds for legal fees. The last time something as reckless as this happened involving police killing a Black woman came back in October 2019 when an officer with the Fort Worth Police Department shot 28-year-old Atatiana Jefferson in her own home. An officer responded to her home because a concerned neighbor requested a wellness check. Instead, he shot his gun through her bedroom window and killed her while she and her 8-year-old nephew were playing video games. Bodycam footage showed Jefferson was shot within four seconds of the officer arriving. https://twitter.com/ava/status/1183407222262398977?s=20 Amber Carr, Jefferson’s older sister, said, “She didn’t do anything wrong, but she’s inside of her home, trying to protect her home and my son that’s inside. She’s not a threat. She’s a college graduate.” Carr also added, “You want to see justice, but justice don’t bring my sister back.” That followed last year's shooting death of Pamela Turner, a 45-year-old unarmed grandmother who was battling a mental illness manic episode when an officer tried to arrest suburban Houston her for outstanding warrants that later were shown to have not even existed. That is, not to mention Atatiana Jefferson, Sandra Bland and so many others. It has been proven time and time again that Black people are more likely to be victims of police violence, even when they are unarmed. And just as we become outraged by the deaths of Black men and boys at the hands of police, we must not forget that Black women and girls have also lost their lives in police shootings. #SayHerName makes sure we do more to bring attention to the too many Black women and girls who probably would still be here if their skin color was different. From Pamela Turner to Tyisha Miller to now, Breonna Taylor, below is a list of a growing number of Black women who have been killed by the police over the years.