“I got up pretty early today, 8:30. I went to my boss’s house; she’s having a yard sale. I am a behavior specialist at Cabbage Patch Settlement House, an afterschool nonprofit. I went to her house, just kind of sat with her at her yard sale for a little bit, drank some coffee. Then I went to Rainbow. I got a bunch of clothes, spent way too much money, but it’s OK. And then I went to Target with no agenda, which is a very dangerous sport to play. But I didn’t do too bad; I did $75. I also looked at a townhouse to move into.
I was looking through the pictures like, ‘Man, (Breonna Taylor’s) patio looks so familiar to me.’ Springfield Drive — I lived there with my mom from when I was 17 to 25, like two units away from her unit. I was like, ‘Wow, that could have been me.’ I walked on those same sidewalks, put my trash in that same trash can. I know the whole layout of those apartments. Maybe I would have run into her one day. I would have walked right up to her, we would have had a conversation, talked about our boyfriends and how they get on our nerves. And it kind of hurts me almost that I never got that chance. I feel like that was stripped away from me and from her and from us.
It’s gotten to the point where I don’t even like to drive and put my window down, put my arm out the window. If I see a police officer anywhere near, I will put my arm in the window. I don’t want them to know that there’s a Black person driving the car.
I lost a sister. I was very, very close to her, and I feel like I used to blame things on her death. Like, I can’t finish this because I’m just too sad. But now being 27, because she passed when she was 27, I dedicated this year of life to her and to me and to us. I just got back in school and every time I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m not going to finish,’ then I kind of pull my hope from her.”
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