Seattle Storm win WNBA season dedicated to Breonna Taylor
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Before the opening match of the WNBA tipped off in July, the league dedicated the season to Breonna Taylor – a 26-year-old Black woman who was killed by Louisville police in her flat in March – and the Say Her Name movement, which raises awareness for black female victims of police violence.
The New York Liberty and the Seattle Storm held a 26-second long moment of silence in honour of Taylor, who was asleep in her bed when police burst into her home and shot her. All of the Storm and Liberty players had Taylor’s name on the back of their jerseys, and New York paid tribute to her by listing every player on Saturday’s starting lineup under her name.
Seattle didn’t stop there, advocating before, after, and during every game for social justice; they dedicated every game to the Say Her Name campaign, and to justice for Taylor and others who have experienced police violence.
“We wanted to bring awareness and give a voice to the Black women that are often forgotten in this country.”
Alysha Clark
With their championship victory, the Storm have entered rarefied air. The group will join the Houston Comets and Minnesota Lynx as the only WNBA teams with four championships; and, with sweeps of both the Lynx and the Aces under their belts, they became the first team to go undefeated in the playoffs since 2013.
Taylor, an emergency medical technician, was shot multiple times by plainclothes officers on March 13. After midnight, police served a “no-knock search warrant” on Taylor’s flat for a narcotics investigation, while Taylor and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, were reportedly asleep.
Walker, a licensed gun owner who called 911 thinking the drug raid was a burglary, exchanged fire with three officers who responded by spraying the flat with gunfire.
One officer was shot and injured – by another officer – while Taylor was struck at least five times and died in her hallway. Taylor and Walker were not the targets of the investigation, and no drugs were found.
No officer has been charged with her death.
