Queen Latifah on Breonna Taylor Charges: ‘We’re Not Going to Take This Lying Down’
Queen Latifah added her voice Wednesday to those protesting the decision by a Kentucky grand jury in the Louisville police killing of Breonna Taylor.
The grand jury brought no charges against Louisville police for the killing of Taylor during a drug raid gone wrong, with prosecutors saying that two officers who fired their weapons at the Black woman were justified in using force to protect themselves.
“You know, it’s a very complicated situation. But it ain’t right and enough already. Enough already. It’s time for some people to go to jail,” Latifah said in an interview over Zoom from her Los Angeles home. ‘We’ve been in chaos for the past few years. But we need some common sense. You know, we need people that that can use that common sense to help us develop new ways of doing things, because until then, ain’t nothing gonna be right. And nobody’s going — we’re not going to take this lying down.”
The recording artist, actor and producer encouraged the Black community in Kentucky and elsewhere to fight back at the ballot box.
“Everybody needs to register to vote. Everyone needs to register to vote. Vote early, go hard, we got to go hard,” she said. “This is not a year to take it easy, because no one has taken it easy on us. You know, and there’s no reason that young woman should not be walking around today, there’s no reason her mom should be burying her child.”
The only charges brought by the grand jury were three counts of wanton endangerment against fired Officer Brett Hankison for shooting into Taylor’s neighbors’ homes during the raid on the night of March 13. The FBI is still investigating potential violations of federal law in the case.
In Louisville, protesters shouting, “No justice, no peace!” began marching through the streets. Some sat quietly and wept. Later, scuffles broke out between police and protesters, and some were arrested.
Taylor, an emergency medical worker, was shot multiple times by officers who entered her home on a no-knock warrant during a narcotics investigation. The warrant used to search her home was connected to a suspect who did not live there, and no drugs were found inside. The use of no-knock warrants has since been banned by Louisville’s Metro Council.
“What happened to Breonna Taylor was beyond a travesty. Beyond,” Queen Latifah said. “Here’s a girl that I mean, was just getting going in life. You know, she’s sleeping in her bed. She’s the one that would have got up and came and saved you, whether you are racist, whether you’re white, whether you’re Asian, whether you’re Black, whether you’re native, or whether you’re gay, straight, transgender, it wouldn’t have mattered. She was a first responder who would have came to save your life. And her life was taken.”
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