Exclusive: Breonna Taylor’s mother on her daughter’s legacy, Trump and race in America

‘I have another daughter so I have to make sure she doesn’t become a Breonna Taylor’

The mother of Breonna Taylor, a young African American woman killed by police when they opened fire on her apartment during a midnight raid, has said she fears for the wellbeing of her other, younger daughter – and is worried the same fate could befall her too.

In the months since the 26-year-old woman was killed by three Louisville police officers in March, Breonna Taylor’s mother Tamika Palmer, has tried to both seek justice for her slain child, and be an anchor for her daughter, Juniyah, who is 20.

“She’s had to become this activist, this person who’s fighting constantly against the world. It’s sad because she doesn't get to be her 20-year-old-self. I feel a little of who she may have wanted to be has become lost in this,” she said.

“So I have to make sure that she doesn't become a Breonna Taylor. It was just a very unfortunate thing and no family should have to go through it so.”

Ms Palmer spoke to The Independent at her home in Louisville’s West End shortly after a grand jury decided not to bring charges against the three officers involved in the raid – Myles Cosgrove, Jonathan Mattingly and Brett Hankison. 

It ruled that because shots had been fired at police by the young woman’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, who legally carried a gun and whose lawyers say was seeking to defend himself against the officers who had not announced themselves, their actions were legal.

The grand jury did bring charges of wanton endangerment against Mr Hankison, because some of the shots he fired entered a neighbouring property. The three officers fired a total of 32 rounds. An autopsy report concluded Mr Cosgrove most likely fired the fatal shot.

Ms Palmer said she wanted to use the tragedy to force action and to prevent it happening to others, especially people of colour. Also, at the front of her mind, is the desire to protect her other child.

There have been countless cases across America of unarmed African Americans losing their lives at the hands of the police, and many of the killings – that of the 26-year-old emergency medical technician among them – triggered widespread protests. In Louisville, a memorial site has been filled with demonstrators for more than 200 days.

Last month, the city of 600,000 people paid $12m (£9.2m) to the family of Ms Taylor to settle a wrongful death lawsuit.

It also agreed to a dozen changes demanded by the young woman’s family in the way the police operate. Most prominent among these was the passing of “Breonna’s Law”, which banned the kind of “no knock” search warrants that led police to storm into her house unannounced.

“With this settlement I got, there was a lot of reform that I wanted to include,  [but] that was just the beginning. There's still a lot of work to be done. There's a lot of policies that still need to be changed. And so I have to become a part of that,” she said.

As she spoke, Ms Palmer appeared both physically and emotionally exhausted. She said she had once enjoyed walking and that it brought her calm. But no longer.

“It’s wiped so much out of me. I don’t really have a lot of strength most days. I am still trying to figure it out,” she said. “I just feel like a hostage in my own thoughts most of the time.”

The family and their lawyers were outraged by the move not to charge the officers. Ms Palmer said the decision by Daniel Cameron, the state attorney general, who is African American, reminded her that she had “no faith in the legal system, in the police, in the law – that are not made to protect us black and brown people”.

The family has now placed its hopes in an FBI investigation into what happened.

Family lawyer Lonita Baker told the media: “We do hope there are federal civil rights violation charges brought as well. But again, we're not giving up on state-level manslaughter or murder charges in the case of Breonna Taylor. We think they're warranted here, there’s sufficient probable cause.”

The protests that followed the killing of individuals such as Breonna Taylor and George Floyd were initially limited in a demand for accountability of the individual officers involved. Steadily, as the protests have grown, so too have the demands of demonstrators, now calling for a root and branch reassessment of race relations in the US and a dismantling of the systems that have long been infected with racism.

Many people attending this summer’s protests said they were struck by the number of white people who participated. And yet the national conversation about race remains fraught, with many white people unwilling to discuss the legacy of slavery, or consider possible reparations.

Asked why this was such a difficult conversation for many white people, Ms Palmer said: “Because they're not experiencing it the way we are. A lot of those people feel privileged because of their skin colour. So that's difficult. It’s hard to speak on something you've never really had to go through.”

She said a conversation about slavery and possible reparations was similarly challenging.

“Who wants to have that conversation? Because to have that conversation is to bring up over 400 years of oppression. And you could never justify it in one conversation, anyway. So I think a lot of white people feel it's simpler to just not speak on it.”

Following the grand jury decision not to charge the officers, Donald Trump offered his condolences to Ms Palmer and her family.

“I think it’s a sad thing and I give my regards to the family of Breonna. I also think it’s so sad what is happening, everything about that case including law enforcement,” the president said. “So many people suffering, so many people needlessly suffering. But with respect to Breonna, we give our regards to her family.”

On the broader subject of race relations, however, the president has been quick to denounce those protesting for racial justice as anarchists and terrorists and dispatched federal agents to cities such as Portland and Chicago. In the run-up to the election, he has positioned himself as a “law and order” president, and also paid tribute to two Louisville police officers shot and wounded during protests that erupted after last month’s grand jury decision.

Ms Palmer said neither Mr Trump or any of his top officials had been in touch.

“No, not that I would even want to hear from him,” she said. “He’s a clown, he’s said what he’s said so many times. He's just another person that I have no desire to deal with through this. I'm out of strength for people like him.”

Asked about those critics of the president who allege his language and behavior adds to divisiveness in the country, she said: “Absolutely… He makes no sense [in] a lot of things he says. And then, when things aren't going his way, he likes to throw a fit like a two-year-old.”

She said Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee and his ruling mate, had by contrast telephoned her to speak.

“I’ve talked several times to Miss Harris. I've talked to Biden, maybe once, but I’ve spoke to his other people. They definitely have reached out, they've offered condolences. They’ve checked in to see if I'm okay, checked in on Juniyah.”

Ms Palmer said she was a realist and appreciated the scale of the challenge of trying to secure justice for her daughter. She said there was “no other way to be”.

And she made clear she would not give up. She said that on occasion, she went and visited the memorial in downtown Louisville where every night people to talk, pray, cook, and swap stories both about Breonna, and what the struggle to secure justice means to them.

“I don't know any other way to be,” she said. “I mean, I never imagined myself in this position in a million years.”