Beyoncé has penned an open letter to Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, demanding justice for Breonna Taylor amid the Black Lives Matter movement.
Taylor was a 26-year-old African-American emergency room technician who was murdered by plainclothes Louisville police officers in her home on March 13th. The police attempted what is now being referred to as a “botched” search warrant execution.
As The Louisville Courier Journal report, police were investigating two men they believed were dealing drugs out of a house far from Breonna Taylor’s home. However, a judge signed a search warrant allowing police to investigate Ms. Taylor’s residence after claims that one of the two men had used her apartment to receive packages.
The judge’s order was a reputed no-knock warrant, which allowed law enforcement to enter the property without warning and without identifying themselves as police.
The police that carried out the search claim that they only fired inside Breonna Taylor’s home in retaliation to being fired upon first by Kenneth Walker, Taylor’s boyfriend, who was in bed next to her when the altercation took place. The police claim that despite acting out a no-knock warrant, they knocked multiple times, identifying themselves as law enforcement before entering. This claim has been heavily disputed.
Neighbours and the family of Taylor have disputed the police claims, saying that they failed to identify themselves. Causing Walker and Taylor to assume someone was breaking into the apartment, which ultimately lead to Walker firing a gun in self-defence, hitting an officer on scene.
It’s been three months since the murder of Taylor and none of the officers culpable for her death has been arrested or fired. Inciting an international call for justice for her death.
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The letter, posted to Beyoncé’s website on Sunday, June 14th, highlights the injustice that the officers involved in the shooting remain employed and have faced no tangible repercussions.
“Three months have passed – and the [Louisville police] investigations have created more questions than answers,” Beyoncé wrote to Daniel Cameron, the Republican African American attorney general of Kentucky.
“Their incident report states that Ms Taylor suffered no injuries – yet we know she was shot at least eight times,” Beyoncé wrote.
“The LMPD officers claim they announced themselves before forcing their way into Ms Taylor’s apartment – but her boyfriend who was with her, as well as several neighbors, all say that this is untrue.”
Beyoncé emphasised that it was Attorney General Cameron’s obligation to seek justice for Breonna Taylor.
“Your office has both the power and the responsibility to bring justice to Breonna Taylor, and demonstrate the value of a Black woman’s life,” she wrote.
“Don’t let this case fall into the pattern of no action after a terrible tragedy. With every death of a Black person at the hands of the police, there are two real tragedies: The death itself, and the inaction and delays that follow it. This is your chance to end that pattern. Take swift and decisive action in charging the officers. The next months cannot look like the last three.”
At the end of the letter, Beyoncé urged fans to sign a petition demanding further justice for Taylor.
In the early weeks of June, the Louisville Metro Council’s Public Safety Committee approved a new ordinance called “Breonna’s Law”. The law outlines that “no-knock” warrants can only be obtained if there’s “imminent threat of harm or death” and would be limited to “offenses including murder, hostage-taking, kidnapping, terrorism, human trafficking and sexual trafficking.” The law also requires Metro law enforcement to wait a minimum of 15 seconds after knocking for a response.
You can sign the #JusticeforBre and Stand With Breonna petitions here.
