‘Nobody Has Been Held Accountable’: 1 Year Later, Breonna Taylor’s Mom Continues Her Fight
Source: SOPA Images / Getty
Tamika Palmer reserves most of her energies in advocating for her daughter Breonna Taylor behind the scenes fighting for justice.
The heaviness she’s endured over the last year is palpable, but in the streets marching with community members who fiercely advocate and support her daughter is where she seems to draw strength.
Palmer sat down with TODAY’s Blayne Alexander on Wednesday, where she talked about how her life propelled forward after joining the unfortunate club of Black mothers who lost their children to police violence.
“I don’t even know the difference in the days anymore,” Palmer told Alexander.
Mostly, she’s overcome with gratitude about the support she’s received from her community and throughout the world.
“Eternally grateful. So many people who never even met her, but they learned of her. They came to stand for her. What happened to her wasn’t right. I could never say thank you enough.”
Saturday marks the one-year-anniversary of her daughter’s death, where members of the Louisville Metro Police Department raided Taylor’s apartment during an unsuccessful botched raid, attempting to locate drugs. While no drugs were recovered, Palmer lost one of the most important people in her life, her first born child.
And for Palmer, it would not be the last experience she had with heartbreak in terms of how the case unfolded. Six months after her daughter was murdered, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron announced he would not be pursuing charges relating to Taylor’s death. Instead only one of the officer’s involved in the fatal raid was charged with wanton endangerment for firing into an apartment neighboring Taylor’s.
Source: JEFF DEAN / Getty
“Nobody has been held accountable, and that’s the problem,” Palmer said.
But all is not lost to Palmer, who has gained momentum over small glimpses of hope. In response to prosecutors dropping charges against Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker, Palmer said it was “long past due.”
The outcome of an ongoing federal investigation is expected later this year. Weeks after her death Louisville city council members voted to eliminate no-knock warrants, which allows officers to enter the home without announcing their presence.
In September Palmer and her attorneys reached a $12M settlement with the city of Louisville, marking the largest city settlement in history. Kentucky lawmakers recently passed a bill that would restrict the usage of “no-knock” warrants on Thursday. On Capitol Hill, lawmakers introduced the Justice For Breonna Taylor Act, which would prohibit the raids on a federal level.
In total she says the urge to wage on lies within her motherly instinct.
“I’ve always felt like I’ve had one job. It was to protect my kids. How do you not continue to fight?”
Another portion of Palmer’s interview will air Wednesday on NBC’s Nightly News at 6:30 p.m. ET.
SEE ALSO:
[ione_media_gallery id=”4027721″ overlay=”true”]