I used to worry about bringing children into this world. It does not matter if I were to have black sons or black daughters- we are all targets. In the wake of Charleena Lyles’ murder, I am again struck by the reality that black lives, including those challenged by mental health issues, do not matter. I am a target just as much as any children I could hope to bring into this world are.

Authorities claim that Ms. Lyles became a threat when she allegedly pulled a knife despite knowing of her mental health issues. An audio recording reveals that the police discussed her mental health history and history with police shortly before the fatal shooting. Why make a mockery of someone who clearly cannot help themselves? Who called for help, not harm?

Before Charleena Lyles, there was Eleanor Bumpurs. Ms. Bumpurs is the first woman memorialized within GLOSSRAGS’ And Counting Collection. In 1984, police stormed into Ms. Bumpurs Bronx apartment to evict her for not paying four months of her $98.56 rent, following complaints from the NY Housing Authority. She was a 66-year-old mother of seven. She stood naked and alone in her apartment, holding a knife. Before she was shot and killed in her own home, the city ordered a psychiatrist to assess Ms. Bumpurs’ mental health. It was concluded that she was not mentally fit to “manage her affairs properly” and needed to be hospitalized.

Rather than properly address and prioritize her health, they cared more about money. A Black life could not even carry the value of $400.

Stephen Sullivan, the officer who shot her, was tried and acquitted of second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in 1987.

In 2016, Deborah Danner, another 66-year-old mentally ill Black woman suffered the same fate at Ms. Bumpurs. She was fatally shot by an NYPD officer in her Bronx apartment. Four years prior, Ms. Danner penned an essay that detailed the challenges of living with schizophrenia, including interactions with police. That same year, Korryn Gaines, a 23-year-old mother to a 5-year-old son who was also shot, was killed. This is not a pattern, it is a theme. Over 25% of people shot by police deal with mental illnesses. Mental illnesses are not justifications for murder.

Now, Ms. Lyles’ four children must grow up without a mother and with the horrific reality that their mother was unjustly murdered. Ms. Lyles fifth child, who she was pregnant with, died along with her. My heart aches for them. My womb trembles. What will become of them? Will her child who has down-syndrome suffer the same fate as her mother, only to be cast as dangerous and blamed for her own death? Will the mental health of her 10-year-old child who witnessed his mother’s death deteriorate?

Black bodies have been cast as threats longer than I can remember. In the minds of far too many, our mere existence signifies danger. We can do little to change this. The change must come from those who would rather kill us than see us as human, rather blame us than blame themselves. We need more than justice, more than protection—we need deliverance.