I messaged Kimyana Henderson and Brittany Shaw because they are two amazing bakers I know to order a last minute cupcake. Kimyana of Kimyummy’s came through with a red velvet cupcake to celebrate Breonna Taylo,r who should have turned twenty-seven today. Twenty-seven. I remember that year. It was the year that made up for the disaster that was hitting the quarter century mark. It’s a tender age. Not as tender as Trayvon Martin’s 17 years or Tamir Rice’s 12 years, or even Michael Brown’s 18 years. But Breonna Taylor should be having a red velvet cake with her family today and celebrating her 27 years that would still be one year younger than Sandra Bland’s 28. I want justice for the lives of all of these young black people who were taken from us far too soon, and today for Breonna’s birthday I want justice for her young black life. They were each robbed of the experiences. Their families own these voids.
I can’t imagine life without one 20 something or younger woman or girl in my family or family of friends. In my family of friends there are parents of 20 something girls and younger, and to hear them dote on their daughters is to know that everytime they watch their beloved progeny leave their presence, is to feel their heart travelling minutes or miles away.
We are living in a time when young girls are being raised with more ingenuity and independence and autonomy and agency than ever before. This is the generation that will leave Earth for Mars. These are the parents that will prepare to never see their children again, and to know they’ve prepared their entire lives for their babies to grow up to explore new worlds. It will be painful, but it will be a choice.Iit may be a sacrifice, but it won’t be a theft.
Here on Earth, imagining the heavens filled with planets and comets and stars, I hope and pray that the families who have lost young black sons and daughters to police violence can imagine their babies there, in those heavens, beyond the trauma-beyond the fear of their last minutes. Today I pray for Breonna Taylor and for justice for the theft of her life on the day she should have turned 27.
Happy Birthday, Breonna Taylor.
Signed, LeVette Fuller.