Malika Andrews had to speak her mind on air Wednesday night.
The ESPN reporter appeared on Sports Center and responded to the verdict regarding the police officers involved in the killing of Breonna Taylor.
.@malika_andrews spoke from the heart when discussing how the Breonna Taylor decision was felt throughout the NBA bubble: pic.twitter.com/unBVPlPa7O
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 24, 2020
“I have prided myself in being able to be objective and cover these sorts of issues,” Andrews said, tearing up. “But when it is so clear that the system of objectivity in journalism is so whitewashed and doesn’t account for the fact that…Breonna Taylor was 26 and I am 25, and that could have been me, it is very hard to continue to go to work.”
Taylor was killed in her home on March 13 after Louisville police broke down her door at night, shooting her at least eight times.
Brown: “Until we dismantle, recreate or change this system that we have, it will continue to have victims like Breonna Taylor and others that fall victim to oppression.” https://t.co/OuBna3OBJl
— Malika Andrews (@malika_andrews) September 24, 2020
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On Wednesday, a grand jury returned no indictments in Taylor’s death, though one officer was charged with “wanton endangerment” for firing bullets into a neighbouring apartment.
“It reverberated everywhere,” Andrews said of the grand jury decision. “Players were hurting. That’s not to say that they didn’t expect this… [Boston Celtics’ player Jaylen Brown said], ‘What do you expect about a system that is rigged against, that was founded on an unfairness against people who look like him, and people who look like me?’
“I’m sorry that I’m getting choked up here, because this is about the players and their response, but it’s been hard for them,” she said. “This is something that… they fought for the entire time they’ve been down here and they were hoping for a different outcome.”
