From Lena Baker to Breonna Taylor: Justice Denied for Black Women

From Lena Baker to Breonna Taylor:

Justice Denied for Black Women

By Janice L. Liddell, PhD 

Both of their executions occurred in March; that and being betrayed by the American justice system are ties that bind two otherwise very different Black women. Lena Mae Baker, a Black mother of three and a domestic in rural Georgia was executed on March 5, 1945, at the age of 45. For killing her oppressive and predatory employer in self-defense, she became the only woman tried and executed in Georgia's electric chair. The 26-year-old Breonna Taylor did nothing but sleep in her apartment wherein the wee hours of March 13, 2020, she was shot to death by gun-happy cops. They were executing a no-knock warrant for the arrest of someone who was nowhere near the apartment and ultimately they sprayed her home with 32 rounds, killing her instantly.  Yes, the circumstances of these two women were extremely different and occurred decades apart, but these events, nevertheless, signal that little has changed in the American "guarantee" of liberty and JUSTICE FOR ALL. This guarantee, as history informs us, has never been one for African Americans—certainly not before Lena Baker, but not even after Breonna Taylor. Over this swath of time, Black people have inevitably been the victims of America's INjustice System.

Time after time, decade after decade, the victimization of Black people has been starkly documented. However, most of the narratives have focused on Black men and while these narratives have always been truthful, they have rarely been inclusive. Hence, few know that Lena Baker was tried and found guilty—in a "Kangaroo court"-- and that the specter of that injustice haunted America until, in 2006, Georgia offered a posthumous pardon for the execution of an innocent woman. No one organized or marched for Baker's justice. In fact, Baker's community was forced into silence and rarely even spoke her name. Her immediate family was banished from her small town of Cuthbert, GA, and by 2020, a young man born and raised in the tiny town had never even heard her name. Such was the completeness of her erasure. In the case of Breonna, communities across the country held massive protests and said her name loudly as they marched angrily through American streets, but even those protests were not enough to secure the justice ostensibly guaranteed to all Americans. This Black woman, a respected emergency medical technician, was left dead for no reason and no one has been held responsible. Justice became a harlequin, a silent mime in the one-ring circus of a grand jury manipulated by a crafty ringmaster, Attorney General David Cameron. His apparent aim was to exonerate the blatantly guilty policemen and to assure there would never be either legal or moral restitution for Breonna's execution.

 

CONCLUSION

We can and must fight now for justice for Breonna and not take the chance that decades from now, American guilt will catch up to the misdeeds as in the case of Lena Baker. In fact, these two divergent Black women, whose experiences can serve as symbolic bookends for the horrid victimization and violence against Black women in America, must be seen for what they now represent. They and those women who came before, between, and after deserve all the fight we can muster, the fight for justice. We must commit ourselves to raising the names of women who are forgotten and those who were barely known as we uproot their lives from the graveyards of anonymity. We must recall, recognize AND believe women who have encountered assault, violence, and even execution at the hands of police and others; women who have also encountered apathy and silence as a substitute for justice. Black people and others who love justice as much as they love life must rally for Black women. We can and must make the 21st century The Century of Justice for Black Women. We must say their names!

###

The Lexington Players (TLP) have been invited to Mondial du Theatre 2021, Monaco, the premier international theatre festival, to showcase the award-winning Who Will Sing for Lena, by Janice L. Liddell as the USA selection.

TLP, the Atlanta Black Theatre Festival (ABTF), and the playwright are collaborating to bring you an encore virtual performance which most recently earned "Best Full-length Play" at ABTF2020. This is a fundraising event to help with non-reimbursed travel expenses. For more information on how to support this history-making event on March 27-29, 2021, visit AtlantaBTF.org