FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 4, 2022
CONTACT: media@colorofchange.org
COLOR OF CHANGE: TWO YEARS LATER, CHARGES AGAINST OFFICERS WHO KILLED BREONNA TAYLOR ARE TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE
Rashad Robinson, president of Color Of Change, the nation’s largest online racial justice organization, issued the following statement in response to the news that federal officials have charged four officers involved in the 2020 murder of Breonna Taylor:
“Breonna Taylor should be alive today. Instead, she was murdered in her own home by the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department (LMPD), a department that continues to promote the big lie of policing: that they exist to protect us. This is why real federal laws and competent federal officials matter — they are too often the only force capable of protecting our freedom and ensuring justice, whether it’s accountability for police violence, protection from voter suppression or the assurance of reproductive freedom.
“Last year, Color Of Change demanded the Department of Justice launch an investigation of the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department and called out Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s mishandling of a grand jury investigation and failure to deliver swifter justice for Breonna Taylor. Now, more than two years after the murder of Breonna Taylor, federal officials have finally charged the four Louisville officers involved in her killing with federal civil rights violations. We hope that this news provides a small measure of relief to Breonna Taylor’s family, who have endured years of legal battles at the state, local and federal levels and malicious abuse in the form of ongoing interrogation by state-sanctioned police.
“For years, millions of Americans have demanded justice for Breonna, and called for community-led alternatives to policing that would have prevented her murder from happening in the first place. Over 1.4 million Color Of Change members have signed petitions to demand that the city of Louisville divest from the LMPD and instead invest in what keeps Black people safe — community-led alternatives, housing stability, food security, mental health support, education improvements and the expansion of community resources. All of those policies are depending on reining in out-of-control, unacceptable police departments.
“It remains indisputable that when we give corrupt politicians and extremist police departments the unchecked power to define what public safety looks like, and how to pursue it, they always put Black people in danger. And Black people always die. We have the power to demand that our elected officials move away from a police-only approach to public safety. It is past time that officials at the federal, state, and local levels take up our calls to re-define safety and commit to support investments in what we know works: healthcare, housing, economic opportunity, violence prevention and intervention programs, mental health supports, and other community-led solutions. This is one important step towards ensuring all communities can be safe in our country.”
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Color Of Change is the nation’s largest online racial justice organization. We help people respond effectively to injustice in the world around us. As a national online force driven by over 7 million members, we move decision-makers in corporations and governments to create a more human and less hostile world for Black people in America. Visit www.colorofchange.org