Jennifer Lawrence demands justice for Breonna Taylor as she joins Twitter for the first time

Actor previously said she’d only join social media if ‘something really burns my onions’

Actor Jennifer Lawrence has publicly joined Twitter for the first time to highlight racial injustice in the United States.

In a tweet shared on Wednesday (17 June), The Hunger Games star called for justice for Breonna Taylor, a black woman who was killed by police in Louisville, Kentucky, in March.

“For three months since her murder, Breonna Taylor’s family, the people of Louisville, Americans across the country, and many around the world have called out for justice. And yet, those calls have gone unanswered,” Lawrence wrote.

“No arrests have been made, the officers responsible for her death remain employed by the LMPD, and disturbingly, the LMPD’s own investigation report was woefully inaccurate. As a Louisvillian, as a human being, I cannot be silent.”

Calling on the Attorney General to “hold those responsible for her death accountable”, Lawrence continued: “We must not allow the erasure of Black women to continue in America. As many activists and leaders have been imporing for years: #SayHerName.”

Earlier in the week, the actor shared a short video by educational charity Represent Us exploring “how corruption has broken our criminal justice system & what we can do to fix it”.

Lawrence’s Twitter account is officially affiliated with the charity, of which she is a board member. The organisation aims to “bring together conservatives, progressives, and everyone in between to pass powerful anti-corruption laws that stop political bribery, end secret money, and fix our broken elections”.

It is the first time Lawrence has had any kind of public social media platform, having admitted in 2018 that she preferred to use platform to “watch” rather than “speak”.

“There is always so much backlash,” she said at the time. “So many people are listening and paying attention, and they have so many opinions about absolutely everything.

“I really don’t want to welcome that unless it’s absolutely necessary. I don’t want to put myself out there for no reason. Unless I’m promoting something or something really burns my onions, you won’t hear from me.”