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We Love To See It: O Magazine’s Breonna Taylor issue is selling out around Louisville

Article By Tish Evans // EEW Magazine Online // *Associated Press contributed to this report

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O, The Oprah Magazine, featuring Breonna Taylor on its cover, is flying off shelves in her Louisville, Kentucky hometown and was already sold out at Carmichael's Bookstore and Barnes & Noble by Tuesday afternoon.

Representatives from both Barnes & Noble and Carmichael's Bookstore said they hoped to pick up more copies later this week, according to a report in Courier Journal.

The 26-year-old Black woman killed by police in March set off protests in Louisville and around the nation and remains a central focus of the Black Lives Matter movement as millions demand justice for Taylor.

Stories about the young aspiring nurse whose death inspired global outcries to end systemic racism, social injustice and a culture of white supremacy fills many of O Magazine’s 100-plus pages.

Media mogul Winfrey, who has used her celebrity influence to draw attention to important matters for decades, is doing more than just promoting Taylor’s story in print. The 66-year-old OWN CEO is also using billboards to demand justice for the woman shot to death during a botched police raid.

26 billboards displaying a portrait of Taylor have gone up across Louisville, demanding that the police officers involved in her death be arrested and charged, according to social justice organization Until Freedom. That’s one billboard for every year of the Black woman’s life.

The billboards, funded by the magazine, showcase the magazine cover dedicated to Taylor, the Courier Journal reported. Also displayed is a quote from Winfrey: “If you turn a blind eye to racism, you become an accomplice to it.”

Until Freedom thanked the Oprah magazine for its work on the billboards.

“Together, we will make sure no one forgets #BreonnaTaylor’s name and recommit to the fight for justice for her and her family,” the group said in a tweet.

Taylor, an emergency medical tech studying to become a nurse, was shot multiple times March 13 when police officers burst into her Louisville apartment using a no-knock warrant during a narcotics investigation. The warrant to search her home was in connection with a suspect who did not live there and no drugs were found.

Kenneth Walker, Taylor’s boyfriend, was originally charged with attempted murder after he fired a shot at one of the officers who came into the home. Walker has said he didn’t know who was entering the apartment and was firing a warning shot. The charge was later dropped.

Demonstrations around the world on behalf of Taylor, George Floyd in Minnesota and others have been part of a national reckoning over racism and police brutality. Tensions have swelled in Taylor’s hometown and beyond as activists, professional athletes and social media stars push for action while investigators plead for more patience.

The decision whether to bring state-level criminal charges against the Louisville officers rests with Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron. He took the Taylor case after a local prosecutor recused himself from reviewing the matter. One of the officers has been terminated and two other officers are on administrative reassignment.

Cameron, the first African American elected to the attorney general’s job in Kentucky, has declined to put a timetable on his decision since taking over the case in May.

“We remain committed to an independent and thorough investigation into the death of Ms. Breonna Taylor,” Cameron said on his official Twitter account.

“The investigation remains ongoing, and we currently await additional testing and analysis from federal partners, including a ballistics test from the FBI crime lab,” the tweet said.

The FBI field office in Louisville said that a “significant amount of ballistic evidence” was collected when investigators returned to Taylor’s apartment in June.

“This evidence is being tested and analyzed at the FBI Laboratory in Quantico, Virginia,” the FBI’s Louisville office said in a statement. “Once the FBI Laboratory has completed its findings, FBI Louisville will promptly share our results with the attorney general’s office.”

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