Twenty-Six
On June 5, 2020 I attended two vigils for Breonna Taylor. These gatherings were just two of many that occurred across the country in honor of what should have been Breonna's twenty-seventh birthday. Although she was unknown outside of her community prior to her death, the outpouring of support for her and her family amidst the protests brought to the forefront of my mind America's fascination with celebrity and tragedy.
Humans have a special memorial to musicians and actors who die at the age of twenty-seven. The 27 Club, which includes the likes of Amy Winehouse, Janis Joplin, and Jimi Hendrix, cements artistically-talented people as victims of fear, misdirection, and bad choices. While Breonna Taylor never achieved this level of superstardom during her lifetime, her death transformed her into a symbol of police brutality, systemic racism, socioeconomic disparity, and civic apathy.
The question of nature vs. nurture, of a person being the victim of circumstance or their own bad choices, takes on a new light when reflecting on yet another murder of an unarmed black person at the hands of police officers. The guilt, sadness, confusion, frustration, and anger was potent in the audiences at both events. Against the backdrop of a global pandemic, whose response has been despicably mishandled here at home, hundreds of twenty- and thirty-somethings seemed to ponder whether political and humanitarian change was indeed possible at all.
Humans have a special memorial to musicians and actors who die at the age of twenty-seven. The 27 Club, which includes the likes of Amy Winehouse, Janis Joplin, and Jimi Hendrix, cements artistically-talented people as victims of fear, misdirection, and bad choices. While Breonna Taylor never achieved this level of superstardom during her lifetime, her death transformed her into a symbol of police brutality, systemic racism, socioeconomic disparity, and civic apathy.
The question of nature vs. nurture, of a person being the victim of circumstance or their own bad choices, takes on a new light when reflecting on yet another murder of an unarmed black person at the hands of police officers. The guilt, sadness, confusion, frustration, and anger was potent in the audiences at both events. Against the backdrop of a global pandemic, whose response has been despicably mishandled here at home, hundreds of twenty- and thirty-somethings seemed to ponder whether political and humanitarian change was indeed possible at all.