I am thinking this morning of #BreonnaTaylor and the comparative lack of outrage about this Black woman EMT, an essential worker, being killed by the cops in a the middle of a pandemic. I am thinking of why it is much easier to access our rage over #GeorgeFloyd.

The killing of Black men by cops, or the threatening of their lives by lying white women, fits the lynching narrative, hand-in-glove. Those brothers were targeted, hunted in a sense. Black women victims of state violence are seen as the unfortunate collateral damage, OTOH.

We know that it’s all wrong. But seeing the killing of Brother Floyd keeps us up nights in ways the killing of Sister Taylor just doesn’t do. The killing of one has folks across the country in the streets. The other inspires a raged filled lament.

And this is why you need Black feminist theorists. Cuz the gender thing here is about how public space is typically seen as the domain of men, but not Black men. And how private space is seen as the domain of women, but not Black women.

So all Black people across genders are subjected to state violence across all spaces. But there is a reason why Black women killed by cops are often killed in or near their homes. (Aiyana Stanley-Jones, Rekia Boyd, Taneisha Anderson, Korryn Gaines, Atatiana Jefferson, etc)

Still working it out but basically the state acts violently to preclude Black folks from standard (white) gendered movements through public (male) and private (female) spaces. Which is also why Black theorists are skeptical of mainstream gender narratives. Cuz they never apply.

Anyway, I’m enraged about it all. But these differences matter. And when we see them play out over and over again, we can ride for each other and still ask why. That is all.