Fresh off the white-hot success of her new single with Megan Thee Stallion, rapper Cardi B is using her platform to draw attention to the plight of Breonna Taylor's mother.
As Blavity previously reported, police allegedly lied to Tamika Palmer after her daughter's March 13 killing, first telling her that Taylor had been taken to the hospital. Palmer said EMS workers snuck her 26-year-old child's body out of the apartment complex before she could see her.
Despite knowing that it was a police-involved shooting, detectives at the scene asked Palmer who would have shot Taylor and other misleading questions about the nature of her death.
In an interview with Elle, Cardi B tried to explain what Palmer may be facing.
“Imagine how frustrated her mom was, crying, probably hysterical. The cops call her saying her daughter is in the hospital, and her daughter is not even there. Then the person who’s supposed to protect her is asking her mom, ‘Do you know anybody who [would] want to hurt Breonna Taylor?’ when you guys know who killed her!” Cardi B said.
She divulged her experience of finding out her cousin had been murdered.
"I remember everybody waking up at 3 a.m. and driving all the way to New Jersey, to the hospital. And through all that driving, you’re crying and scared and everything," the award-winning rapper said.
Gun control advocate Tamika Mallory recently set up a meeting between Palmer, Cardi B and other celebrities wanting to help advocate for the young EMT, whose killers have not yet been arrested. Since then, Cardi B said she has thought about the pain Palmer must feel in light of the slow response from Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron.
She also called out other rappers for not speaking up about Taylor's death more often.
“A woman like Breonna Taylor, she was young. She looked like she was listening to your music. She looked like she was your fan. You should stick up for her,” she told the magazine.
In fact, Taylor was a fan of rapper The Game — he said so himself in a June 5 Instagram post honoring the late EMT he once met.
"Today you would be 27 years old," the "My Life" rapper wrote. "Today you would be celebrating your beautiful life. Instead today we are in still in deep mourning because your life was taken from you prematurely at the hands of the Louisville Metro Police Department & 3 of its incompetent officers who entered your home with malicious intent serving a 'no knock warrant' when the people the police were looking for were already in custody."
Cardi B also slammed these same law enforcement officials.
She noted that the three officers who shot Taylor, Brett Hankison, Myles Cosgrove and Jonathan Mattingly, are still walking free and two of them are still working for the police force.
“That is so insane to me. [I saw] Breonna Taylor’s name everywhere, but I didn’t really know her story. What they did to her is really f**ked up. Really f**ked up,” she said.
Taylor's case has roiled the nation since details began to emerge about what happened on March 13. Her death helped spark protests in all 50 states and several countries around the world. The protests in Louisville are still raging.
The country's biggest sports stars, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and many more have called for justice in her case.
“What’s the excuse? Why is the cop not in jail? Wasn’t what he did a crime? It’s a crime! And no apology. No apology. No video of the cop coming out crying, ‘I f**ked up. I don’t this. I don’t that.’ Nothing. It’s nothing. I don’t even know how her mom still holds her head up. Unbelievable,” Cardi B said.
