Mourners honour killed Black woman on birthday

On Friday, Breonna Taylor would have turned 27.

Taylor, an emergency medical technician, was killed by the police on March 13 during a latenight drug investigation in Louisville, Ky. Three officers barged into her apartment, using a socalled no-knock search warrant, which allows the police to enter without warning. Her boyfriend, who said he thought someone was breaking into the apartment, shot an officer in the leg. The police ended up shooting Taylor eight times.

To mark her birthday, thousands of demonstrators gathered in downtown Louisville at around 7 p.m. Many had been protesting all day in different parts of the city, but in the evening they gathered specifically for Taylor’s birthday. Her face, as painted by artist Jaylin Stewart, was projected onto city hall. The protesters sang “Happy Birthday.” They chanted “Say Her Name!” And they marched around the city for hours. There was anger and pain, but there was also hope and tender love.

Online, a campaign aimed to flood Instagram and Twitter with Taylor’s name using the hashtag #BirthdayForBreonna. The campaign’s other action items included signing an online petition calling for justice, donating to an online fund for Taylor’s family and sending birthday cards to Kentucky’s attorney general, Daniel Cameron, urging him to charge the three officers.

By Saturday afternoon, the online fund for Taylor’s family had raised more than $5 million (U.S.).