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Breonna Taylor's death shouldn't be an insensitive Twitter meme

While well-intentioned, jokey memes about arresting the cops who killed Breonna Taylor help no one.

Morgan Sung

on June 25, 2020

Twitter users are calling each other out for turning a call for justice for Breonna Taylor into a meme.

Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, was sleeping on March 13 when white police officers forcibly entered her Louisville, Kentucky home without warning in what's known as a "no-knock warrant." Her boyfriend Kenneth Walker fired his gun, and in response, the police fired back. They shot Taylor at least eight times, the New York Times reports.

The police were looking into two men who they suspected were selling drugs, and using Taylor's address to receive packages, according to the Courier Journal. The "no-knock" warrant the judge issued, which allowed the police to enter without a warning or identifying themselves as law enforcement, has since been banned in Louisville.

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After the death of George Floyd, a Black man who was killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, daily protests against police brutality have ignited across the world. In addition to other victims of police brutality, Breonna Taylor has become a widely known name as the Black Lives Matter movement memorializes her in its marches. The phrase "Arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor" became something of a social media mantra for those seeking justice. One of the police officers involved in Taylor's shooting was fired this week, three months after her death. None of the officers involved have been arrested.

But as social media users repeated the phrase in hopes of spreading awareness and gaining visibility, Taylor's death became an insensitive meme. Similar to the Epstein meme, in which social media users repeated the phrase "Jeffrey Epstein didn't kill himself" until the words lost all meaning, Twitter and Instagram users turned Taylor into the punchline of a joke. The meme is formatted with a lead-up, usually unrelated to police brutality or the Black Lives Matter movement, drawing the audience in. Then, the meme creator finishes with "Arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor."

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While the posts may seem well meaning to the creators, Twitter users expressed their discomfort at their brevity. The meme belittles her memory and the larger struggle to end police brutality, critics have pointed out.

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To joke about someone's death is dark enough, but to joke about an innocent person who was brutally killed because of a flaw in an unjust system is even worse. Before you turn a victim of police violence into the punchline of a meme, consider taking action to change the system instead.

Related Video: Want to donate to help the Black Lives Matter movement? Here's how.