This weekend, a petition on Change.org about Breonna Taylor
became the second-largest ever in the website's history with more than 10 million signatures.
According to the Louisville Courier-Journal, the petition reached 10 million signatures on Sunday, signaling the widespread outrage surrounding Taylor's case.
“We unite in solidarity with signers, petition starters, our members and Black colleagues. We join their call for justice and accountability. The lives of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, Breonna Taylor and so many more mattered. Black lives matter,” Nick Allardice, acting CEO of Change.org, said in a statement to the newspaper.
The 26-year-old EMT spent weeks putting her life on the line while helping people infected with COVID-19 before she was shot to death by three Louisville Metro Police Department officers in her home on March 13, as Blavity previously reported.
Since her killing, millions of people around the world have called for Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and officers Brett Hankison and Myles Cosgrove to be arrested and charged for the shooting, but little has been done by city and state officials.
The petition, which now has 10.2 million signatures, calls for charges to be filed against the three officers as well as the detective who requested the no-knock warrant, Joshua Jaynes. It states the four men, and anyone else involved in covering up the crime, should be fired, arrested and charged immediately.
It also includes demands for a special prosecutor to be appointed for the case, for damages to be paid to Taylor's family and for legislation banning the types of warrants that led to her death.
ABC News reports only Hankison has been fired from the police force for displaying "an extreme indifference to the value of human life," according to his termination letter.
Locally, the Louisville Metro Council banned no-knock warrants and named the law after Taylor, but little has been done to address the other issues raised by her family or the petition.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul announced a federal bill banning no-knock warrants, but there has been little movement on it in Congress.
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron has faced endless criticism for his conduct regarding the case and for refusing to provide any timeline for when her family can expect a resolution. In an effort to get him to respond, civil rights groups have held a number of protests in front of his house, one of which led to dozens of arrests.
The Courier-Journal reported that the petition was started by law student Loralei HoJay, who continues to update the Change.org page with news about the case.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has spoken out about the case, one of the things demanded in the petition. In May, he called for federal, state and local investigations into what happened to Taylor.
"The public reports concerning the death of Breonna Taylor are troubling. Her family and the public at large deserve the full facts regarding her death," he said.
The Taylor petition is the second-largest ever on Change.org, following the petition calling for justice for George Floyd. You can sign the petition here.
