It has been three months since Breonna Taylor was murdered by police in her own home in Louisville, and still the cops have not been arrested nor charged. 

On March 13 at 12:30 a.m., Taylor and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, were asleep when plainclothes officers barged into her apartment to serve a search warrant in a narcotics investigation.  

Walker, a licensed gun owner, shot an officer in self defense because he thought their home was being invaded. In response, the officers fired more than 20 rounds, and Taylor was shot eight times. 

Taylor’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit two months after her killing, and on May 21, the FBI’s Louisville office announced they were opening an investigation into the circumstances surrounding her death, but justice has yet to be served. 

The three officers involved in her shooting, Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison, and Myles Cosgrove have not been fired, and are on administrative leave. 

On Thursday June 11, the Louisville metro council unanimously voted to pass an ordinance called “Breonna’s Law,” which bans no-knock warrant searches like the one that resulted in Taylor’s murder. 

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul introduced a bill called the Justice for Breonna Taylor Act which would ban no-knock warrants for federal law enforcement.

While these are steps in the right direction, it’s far from satisfactory for those who are calling for real justice. 

“They passed a law, while Breonna Taylor’s murderers are on paid leave, so again we ask, what is the purpose of legislation when it is not enforced? Absolutely nothing,” said one commenter on Twitter

Another wrote: “How is it that Breonna’s Law was passed, but the cops who murdered Breonna Taylor are still free? Explain it to me like I’m a mother who lost her daughter for absolutely no reason at all.” 

Breonna Taylor would have turned 27 on June 5. She was an EMT who had dreams of becoming a nurse and starting a family. 

She should have been here to celebrate her birthday, advance her career in the healthcare field, bring new life into the world and live for many more decades, but police violence and negligence destroyed those possibilities. Legislation without justice is empty and does not solve the systemic issue.