Breonna Taylor’s mother calls on Biden to investigate killing in ad
'We fought for you. It is now your turn to fight for us,' says Tamika Palmer
The mother of Breonna Taylor is calling on President-elect Joe Biden to open a federal investigation into the shooting death of her daughter and other Black people who were killed by police.
Taylor was fatally shot on March 13 by Louisville Metro Police officers during a search warrant gone wrong. She was 26.
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In a Tuesday edition of The Washington Post, Tamika Palmer made her message clear to Biden to hold police officers accountable.
“Your campaign’s stated commitment to prioritize police accountability prompted so many of us to vote this year,” Palmer said in the ad. “For many Americans, a vote for you was a vote for Breonna, Jacob Blake, Casey Goodson and so many others who have been failed repeatedly by the criminal justice system under the current administration.”
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She continued, “These victims could not vote for you — so millions of us did so on their behalf. Now, we need you to fight for Breonna and for the other families that have joined the sad sisterhood and brotherhood of people who have lost loved ones to police violence.”
Palmer then outlined the steps that should be addressed:
- Appointing people to the Department of Justice with a proven record of holding police accountable.
- Ordering the DOJ to reopen investigations into police violence not properly completed before the Obama administration ended.
- Ordering large scale federal investigations into cases of police brutality, like the shootings of Jacob Blake, Casey Goodson, and of course, my daughter.
- Stopping police brutality before it happens by ordering robust pattern and practice investigations into police departments known to cause harm across the country.
She emphasized her message to Biden that “actions speak louder than words. We need your actions to show that you are different than those who pay lip service to our losses while doing nothing to show that our loved one’s lives mattered.”
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Grassroots Law Project, an initiative co-founded by activist Shaun King and attorney Lee Merritt, linked the ad that calls for action from Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris to the website bidenjusticedemands.com.
A letter and the list of demands calling on the Biden-Harris administration with a petition of more than 109,000 signatures including the families of Ahmaud Arbery, Atatiana Jefferson and Philando Castile.
The site quoted Biden on his victory speech on Nov. 7 where he acknowledged the support of the African American community.
“The African American community stood up for me. You’ve always had my back. And I’ll have yours. America called upon us to achieve racial justice and root out systemic racism in this country,” Biden said.
Palmer ended the message by saying, “We fought for you. It is now your turn to fight for us.”
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