BY BELLA TRINKO AND ALAINA INOUYE
STAFF WRITERS
Only twenty minutes before Derek Chauvin was announced guilty, Ma’khia Bryant was shot four times in the chest and killed by police officer Nicholas Reardon. Earlier that afternoon, Ma’khia Bryant had called the police, stating that someone was trying to stab her and her younger sister. When the police arrived, they saw that Bryant was holding a knife and charging at a woman. Police officer Nicholas Reardon responded to the scene by fatally shooting Ma’khia Bryant. Some people say that although it was a tragedy, the killing of the sixteen-year-old child was necessary because she was armed. However, crisis response experts say that through de-escalating the situation, there was a way to resolve the situation and keep everyone alive.
ong before her death, Ma’khia Bryant’s life contained many injustices and tragedies. She and her siblings were separated from their mother because of negligence. They then stayed with their grandmother, Ms. Hammonds. However, Ms. Hammond’s landlord found out that the children were living in her apartment, and they said she could stay there anymore. With little options left, Ms. Hammonds asked Ma’khia Bryant’s caseworker if she could take the children to a hotel while she searched for a place to stay. However, the caseworker told her that the children would have to go into foster care.
The video of her murder was shared throughout the internet. Many watchers came to the conclusion, based on deep-rooted prejudices, that she was dangerous and murdering her was the correct decision. Sources such as her call to the police, though, allude to her actions being more in self-defense. Witnesses also reported that the officers, as stated before, made no attempt to defuse the situation before firing.
This tragic murder by the cops of a sixteen-year-old black girl, should not be brushed aside and forgotten. As Professor Treva Lindsay of Ohio State University said, “It’s important for us to continue highlighting and vocalizing how the inhumanity of white supremacy shows up in the lives of Black women and girls. When we’re equipped with the full truth of how it operates, we have a better chance at rooting out the operating system of white supremacy and anti-Blackness.”
Sources:
- https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/06/us/makhia-bryant-foster-care/index.html
- https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/08/us/columbus-makhia-bryant-foster-care.html
- https://www.vox.com/22406055/makhia-bryant-police-shooting-columbus-ohio