Tell-It Report: Ex-Cop Sentenced to 33 Months for Violating Breonna Taylor’s Rights [Update]

The sentencing comes after the Department of Justice requested that Brett Hankison serve only one day in jail.

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In Gullah Geechee communities, a "tell-it" was a designated lookout, community warning system and the most trusted source for news and information. The Tell-It Report is ContrabandCamp’s weekly roundup of the Black stories that deserve more attention — from politics to entertainment.

Updated, Monday, July 21, 6:34 p.m. ET: Former Louisville police officer Brett Hankison was sentenced to 33 months in prison for violating Breonna Taylor’s rights during a botched raid that led to her shooting death by police in March 2020. A judge rejected the Department of Justice’s request that Hankison be sentenced to one day in jail.

Earlier:

The attorneys for Breonna Taylor’s family say the Department of Justice’s request for a one-day sentence for ex-cop Brett Hankison is an “insult” to her life.

Under President Donald Trump, the Department of Housing and Urban Development plans to abruptly halt seven housing discrimination cases and investigations in cities in the Midwest and South.

Federal lawmakers have introduced a bill package to ban cancer-causing ingredients in Black hair and beauty products.

Also, a new report states that Elon Musk’s Neuralink illegally filed to benefit from a program for racially and ethnically disenfranchised small businesses

Read the full stories below:

DOJ says former officer convicted in raid on Breonna Taylor’s home should get one day in jail

The Justice Department is asking that Brett Hankison — a former Louisville cop who shot into Breonna Taylor’s home during a botched raid in 2020 — serve only one day in jail, The New York Times reports.

In 2024, Hankison was convicted on one count of abusing Taylor’s rights when he shot 10 rounds through a window covered with blinds and curtains during a “no-knock” raid. Though his bullets didn’t hit her, Taylor was killed in that raid. The cops responsible for her death were not charged.

Taylor’s death, which preceded George Floyd’s killing by just a couple of months, ignited nationwide attention towards the Black Lives Matter movement during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Wednesday, the department argued that Hankison “was part of the team executing the warrant, Defendant Hankison did not shoot Ms. Taylor and is not otherwise responsible for her death.” They added that there “is no need for a prison sentence to protect the public from the defendant,” according to NBC News.

Attorneys Ben Crump, Lonita Baker and Sam Aguiar, who represent Taylor’s family, said the recommendation is “an insult to the life of Breonna Taylor and a blatant betrayal of the jury’s decision,” in a statement.

“This sets a dangerous precedent,” the statement read. “When a police officer is found guilty of violating someone’s constitutional rights, there must be real accountability and justice. Recommending just one day in prison sends the unmistakable message that white officers can violate the civil rights of Black Americans with near-total impunity.”

Because Hankison spent a day in jail when he was initially arrested, this sentencing would mean his time was already served. The DOJ also asked for three years of supervised probation for Hankison.

The ex-cop is scheduled to be sentenced on Monday. He faces a maximum life sentence.

The Trump administration seeks to drop several major housing discrimination cases

The Trump administration is preparing to drop seven major investigations and cases involving housing discrimination and segregation in the South and Midwest, according to information obtained by ProPublica. In some cases, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has already found evidence of civil rights violations.

The allegations include claims that state and local governments placed industrial plants or low-income housing in communities of color while steering those facilities away from predominantly white neighborhoods. In three of the cases, HUD officials determined that citizens’ Fair Housing Act rights or civil rights laws had been violated.

According to the non-profit outlet, HUD is planning to abruptly end the cases, “regardless of prior findings of wrongdoing.” The cases in Chicago, Cincinnati, Corpus Christi, Texas, Flint, Michigan, and Memphis will now be closed by order of HUD senior adviser Brian Hawkins, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, without legal justification.

“No administration previously has so aggressively rolled back the basic protections that help people who are being harmed in their community,” a HUD official told the outlet. “The civil rights protections that HUD enforces are intended to protect the most vulnerable people in society.”

HUD didn’t give a reason for the cases and investigations being halted. Hawkins, however, cited a Trump executive order in a memo about one of the Chicago cases ending. ProPublica reports that it read, “the Department will not interpret environmental impacts as violations of fair housing law absent a showing of intentional discrimination.”

Legislators introduce bill package to ban cancer-causing ingredients in Black hair products

Lawmakers have presented a bill package aimed at banning and regulating hair and beauty products made with toxins that target Black women, NBC reports.

The bill is called the Safe Beauty Bill Package and contains four proposals to remove cancer-causing ingredients and protect the Black women consumers and stylists who are exposed to them. Among them are the Toxic-Free Beauty Act, Cosmetic Safety Protections for Communities of Color and Salon Workers, the Cosmetic Hazardous Ingredient Right to Know Act and the Cosmetic Supply Chain Transparency Act.

The four bills are spearheaded by House Representatives Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Lizzie Fletcher (D-Texas), Doris Matsui (D-Calif.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), according to Women’s Health. It comes four months after a Consumer Reports study published its findings, which said that carcinogens were found in 10 popular synthetic hair products used for braids and weave, including Magic Fingers, Sassy Collection, Sensationnel and Shake-N-Go. Congressmembers are also seeking to ban two classes of chemicals and 18 highly hazardous chemicals found in the products, including lead, mercury, formaldehyde and asbestos.

Schakowsky said in a statement that the legislation is meant to “close the loopholes” that allow brands to put toxins in their products. Rep. Pressley also released a statement, noting that unregulated hair products for decades have led to adverse health consequences for Black women, including cancer and reproductive issues.

“This isn’t a coincidence — this is exploitation,” she stated. “Black women, girls, and salon workers should be able to show up every day as our beautiful, authentic selves, without fear for our health and safety.”

Did Elon Musk’s Neuralink falsely claim to qualify for a racial diversity program?

A new report is accusing billionaire Elon Musk’s Neuralink of falsifying federal documents to take advantage of benefits specifically for racially and ethnically disenfranchised small businesses.

According to journalist Caleb Ecarma’s Musk Watch, the neurotechnology company “falsely self-certified as a ‘small disadvantaged business’ (SDB) on a federal filing” on April 24. Legally, this classification is only eligible for "economically disadvantaged individuals."

Federal regulations state that an individual’s net worth exceeding $850,000 cannot qualify as economically disadvantaged. Musk’s net worth is estimated at $413.2 billion according to Forbes.

Musk Watch claims that Neuralink, which is developing a brain-computer interface, has been filing as an SDB since 2017.

Though Musk Watch notes that there is no indication that the billionaire’s company received federal funding typically reserved for businesses with the designation, the site does report that the company answered “Yes” to the question, “Does Neuralink Corp. wish to apply for a Federal financial assistance project or program, or is Neuralink Corp. currently the recipient of funding under any Federal financial assistance project or program?”

Earlier this year, Musk used his role as head of DOGE to reduce funding for diversity, equity and inclusion programs that many business owners who qualify for SDB would benefit from.

ICYMI

• “The Inspection” director Elegance Branton is in talks to direct an upcoming biopic on tennis legend Arthur Ashe.

• Samuel L. Jackson is set to star in Taylor Sheridan's “Tulsa King” spinoff, “NOLA King.”

• Tens of thousands of protesters organized at more than 1,600 locations around the nation to honor the life of John Lewis and protest Trump’s discriminatory policies.

• A federal court ruled that Arkansas can enforce its 2023 ban on critical race theory in schools.

• California Assemblymember Isaac G. Bryan introduced a reparations bill for descendants of enslaved Black Americans that could bypass the state’s affirmative action ban if passed.