Oprah Winfrey is stepping off the cover of her O, The Oprah Magazinefor the first time in 20 years for a good cause. The 66-year-old TV host and magazine’s founder dedicated the September issue of her magazine — one of its last ones in print — to Breonna Taylor.
Breonna was a 26-year-old EMT who was killed on March 13 in her home in Louisville, Kentucky, by Louisville Metro Police. She and boyfriend Kenneth Walker were in their own home when police made a late-night raid on the wrong address, looking for someone who had been taken into police custody hours earlier. Taylor was shot eight times. Though one officer was fired months after the incident, none of the officers involved have been arrested or charged.
The O magazine cover features an edited image of Breonna that the late EMT took herself, which has been altered by digital artist Alexis Franklin. The issue is on stands Aug. 11.
‘O, The Oprah Magazine’/Alexis Franklin
In her What I Know For Sure Column, Oprah opens up about her decision to feature Breonna on the cover of the magazine.
“What I know for sure: We can’t be silent. We have to use whatever megaphone we have to cry for justice,” she writes. “And that is why Breonna Taylor is on the cover of O magazine.”
Oprah opens up about her personal connection to Breonna, adding, “I feel the connection down the generations: the refusal to value Black women’s lives. And I feel a personal connection. Because I am these women. These women are me.”
The A-lister also spoke with Breonna’s mother, Tamika Palmer, when Tamika was having a “particularly bad day.”
‘O, The Oprah Magazine’/Janelle Washington
“The day I called, Ms. Palmer was dealing with the emotion of it all. She told me, ‘I can’t stop seeing her face. Her smile. It’s what I miss most about her. I still can’t grasp the concept of her being gone. It feels so surreal. I’m still waiting for her to come through the door,'” Oprah reflects.
O magazine encourages its readers to sign the Change.Org and Color of Change petitions to demand justice from Kentucky officials. It also urges people to call Kentucky’s attorney general, mayor, governor, and the public integrity unit of the Louisville Metro Police Department to demand the officers involved in Breonna’s death are fired and charged with her killing. Those looking for more information can visit StandWithBre.com. O also encourages people to donate to the Louisville Community Bail Fund to help protesters fighting in Breonna’s name and to continue to use the hashtag #SayHerName to keep her memory alive.
