26 billboards throughout Louisville demand justice for Breonna Taylor

"If you turn a blind eye to racism, you become an accomplice to it."

Video byBrittany Berkowitz, Tony Morrison, Jessica Naudziunas, and Sabina Ghebremedhin
August 7, 2020, 5:13 PM

Dozens of billboards demanding justice for Breonna Taylor are popping up around her hometown of Louisville, Kentucky.

On Thursday, Oprah Winfrey and O, The Oprah Magazine began erecting 26 billboards -- one for each year she was alive -- throughout the city. All billboards will be installed by Monday and they will remain up for a month, according to the publication.

The billboards read: "Demand that the police involved in killing Breonna Taylor be arrested and charged. Visit UntilFreedom.com."

The billboards also feature a powerful quote from Winfrey: "If you turn a blind eye to racism, you become an accomplice to it."

PHOTO: Oprah and "O, The Oprah Magazine" have erected 26 billboards with the September cover image of Breonna Taylor across her hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, beginning Aug. 6, 2020.
Oprah and "O, The Oprah Magazine" have erected 26 billboards with the September cover image of Breonna Taylor across her hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, beginning Aug. 6, 2020.
Courtesy "O, The Oprah Magazine"

An image of Taylor, created by 24-year-old artist Alexis Franklin, is the centerpiece of the billboards. This is taken from O, The Oprah Magazine's September 2020 cover, the first in the publication's 20-year history to not feature Winfrey in some capacity.

Taylor was shot and killed at the hands of Louisville police on March 13 at the age of 26. Officers were executing a so-called "no knock" warrant, which caused Taylor's boyfriend to open fire on officers, believing the house was being broken into. Taylor, in her bedroom, was shot eight times and died.

So far, just one of the three police officers involved in Taylor's killing, Brett Hankison, has been fired. Neither he nor the other two officers involved, Jonathan Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove, have been arrested or charged with a crime.

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