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makhia bryant

Source: Paula Bryant / facebook

With big bouncy curls and a radiant smile, 16-year-old Ma’hkia Bryant was an average teen girl who spent her spare time creating hair tutorials on Tik Tok that showcased her personality and beauty skills. The sharable clips are a bright alternate to the gut-wrenching body cam footage that shows her death at the hands of Columbus police officer Nicholas Reardon.

Bryant was killed minutes after the Derek Chauvin trial verdict was announced. The teen, who was reportedly being jumped outside her home, called the police. The callous footage, that shows a responding officer shoot Ma’Khia four times in the chest, sent shockwaves through the Black community. We’re tired of seeing Black bloodshed on our timelines.

In an effort to spread more positive images of Ma’Khia, instead of the traumatic last moments of her life, social organizations and celebrities like LaLa are sharing her Tik Tok’s to celebrate the bright life she was while bringing awareness to the death that reiterates Black lives are disposable to the entire justice system.

“What you will never see me do is circulate videos of Black and Brown people being killed. Especially when they’re children, DJ Ali BC captioned a video of Ma’Khia styling her hair.

Ma’Khia’s death sparked outrage. As it should. The responding officer, within 22 seconds of assessing the scene after being called by the victim, delivered the four shots to her chest that ended her life. We’ve seen officers manage to deescalate and apprehend mass killers and take them to Burger King, Ma’Khia should still be here today.

LeBron James took to Twitter to express his visceral reaction to Ma’Khia’s death.

Justice begins with accountability. When officers realize they will be penalized for their crimes against Black people, they will be forced to fall the f*ck in line. Until then, we continue to say the name of victims like Ma’Khia, Breonna Taylor and Sandra Bland.

For 2024’s iteration of MadameNoire and HelloBeautiful’s annual series Women to Know, we knew we wanted to celebrate the people who help make the joys of film and television possible. To create art is to create magic. This year, we spotlight Hollywood Executive’s changing the face of cinema.