After featuring Breonna Taylor’s image on the September issue of O, marking the first time in the magazine’s history Oprah Winfrey hasn’t appeared on the cover, the legendary talk show host is now ramping up her demands for justice by buying up billboards in Louisville, Kentucky where Taylor’s killing took place.
The 26 billboards—one for each year of Breonna’s life—depict the same cover image of Taylor alongside the message: “Demand that the police involved in killing Breonna Taylor be arrested and charged.” The sign also features a quote from Oprah that reads, “If you turn a blind eye to racism, you become an accomplice to it” and urges people to visit the website UntilFreedom.com. Until Freedom is an intersectional social justice organization currently focused on putting pressure on the Louisville Mayor, Attorney General, and Police Chief to get justice in Taylor’s case.
An image of the billboards placed around Louisville.
Courtesy of O, The Oprah MagazineTaylor was a 26-year-old EMT employee who was fatally shot eight times by Louisville Metro Police on the night of March 13 while asleep in her own bed after the cops entered her home using a no-knock warrant. Outrage over her killing, in addition to that of George Floyd and countless others, helped spur the Black Lives Matter protests to become a nationwide movement in late May.
Louisville’s FBI department is still conducting an independent investigation into Taylor’s case in search of potential civil rights violations, but as of now no officers involved in the shooting have been charged and only one, Brett Hankison, was fired in June. The city has, however, banned no-knock warrants in a local ordinance named after Taylor.
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