From Ridgewood To Wayne, Activists Mourn Breonna Taylor

NEW JERSEY — In Northern New Jersey, a summer altered by the coronavirus was spent by a diverse collection of activists in the streets of their communities, protesting and organizing in unison with others across the country after the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd.

On Wednesday, those activists were faced with familiar, disheartening circumstances.

A grand jury indicted former Louisville police detective Brett Hankison with wanton endangerment for shooting into neighboring apartments during the raid in which Breonna Taylor was killed.

However, none of the three officers involved in the raid — Hankison, Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly or Detective Myles Cosgrove — were charged in connection to Taylor's death.

Hankison is charged with three counts of first-degree wanton endangerment. If convicted, he could spend up to five years in prison for each charge.

In New Jersey, the same activists who took to the streets and organized online over the summer were quick to respond to the decision.

"The charges completely ignored the murder of Breonna Taylor, and made a mockery of the entire movement. 191 days have passed since Breonna was murdered and still justice has not been served," BLMxTeaneck and BLM Bergen County told Patch, in a joint statement.

Those groups were the first to organize a vigil for Taylor, in addition to the Ramsey Alliance for Social Equity, who organized a vigil outside the borough's town hall while the council met inside, and a rally spearheaded by the People's Organization for Progress in Newark.

At the Teaneck vigil, Justin Pines, a member of Ridgewood for Black Liberation, tried to articulate just what he was feeling at the moment.

"I don't really have a nice speech," he said, pausing briefly. "I'm really sad."

Earlier in the day, Pines shared his thoughts on the decision with Patch, and echoed a sentiment many shared in the hours that have followed: Breonna Taylor didn't receive justice.

"It's disgusting that not only is it not surprising that none of the officers who killed Breonna Taylor were indicted for her murder, but a lot of people expected this to be the verdict," he wrote in a message.

"It's sad that people seen by society as rioters are more committed to getting her justice than the actual justice system."

Pines was joined by activists from across the state in Teaneck Wednesday night, but the vigils there, and in Ramsey and Newark, won't be the last.

On Wednesday, the organizers of the popular Facebook page Wayne for Black Lives Matter Protest and the Wayne for Change Instagram page quickly worked to schedule a vigil for Thursday.

One founding member, Marissa Budnick, shared with Patch shortly after the grand jury decision was announced that she was "heartbroken, but sadly not surprised."

"This system is incredibly broken and the system in Kentucky apparently does not care about Black lives. We just need to do all we can to keep her name and memory alive," she said.

A few miles down the road in Paterson a separate vigil is scheduled for Thursday, at the Underground Railroad Memorial.

And in Jersey City this weekend, the first annual Kemet Music and Arts Festival is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. with a rally and march leading into the festival at noon.

If history should tell us anything, it's that these vigils in cities big and small likely won't be the last.

Natacha Pannell, the sister of Phillip Pannell, a Black 16-year-old who was killed by a white Teaneck police officer in 1990, spoke in Teaneck Wednesday. She expressed frustration, but steadiness.

Though the societal issues facing people of color aren't solved, she, and others like her, won't stop fighting.

"I've been out here for 30 years, I'm still out here today," she said.

Like Pannell, Pines and others across the region will continue to show up as well, as long as they're able.

"I'm here before the next Black person dies," Pines said Wednesday, in Teaneck.

"And I hope it ain't me."

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