Oprah Winfrey Gave Up Her ‘O Magazine’ Cover for the First Time Ever to Honor Breonna Taylor
Oprah Winfrey just gave up her O, The Oprah Magazine cover for the first time in 20 years to honor Breonna Taylor.
Twenty-four-year-old digital artist Alexis Franklin created the cover portrait.
Breonna Taylor was asleep when she was shot and killed by the police on March 13, 2020.
Her killers, Brett Hankison, Jonathan Mattingly, and Myles Cosgrove, haven’t been arrested.
It’s been five months since Breonna Taylor was shot and killed by the police as she was asleep in her home, and her killers, Brett Hankison, Jonathan Mattingly, and Myles Cosgrove, still haven’t been arrested. For months, Breonna’s family and countless advocates across the nation have made their voices heard by calling their representatives, signing petitions, and protesting—even when faced with violent tactics from the police and unidentified federal agents. Many celebrities have shown their support for Breonna, and most recently, Oprah Winfrey made a huge, powerful gesture and put her on the cover of O, The Oprah Magazine.
Oprah has graced the cover of every single issue of her magazine for the past 20 years. She’s never given it up, but this month, she stepped aside to honor Breonna. Along with the announcement of the cover, Oprah shared:
“Breonna Taylor. She was just like you. And like everyone who dies unexpectedly, she had plans. Plans for a future filled with responsibility and work and friends and laughter. Imagine if three unidentified men burst into your home while you were sleeping. And your partner fired a gun to protect you. And then mayhem. What I know for sure: We can’t be silent. We have to use whatever megaphone we have to cry for justice. And that is why Breonna Taylor is on the cover of O Magazine. I cry for justice in her name.”
A post shared by O, The Oprah Magazine (@oprahmagazine) on Jul 30, 2020 at 5:30am PDT
The September issue with Breonna, which includes a conversation between Oprah and Breonna’s mother, Tamika Palmer, will be available on newsstands and for digital download on August 11. You can read more about how the cover came to be and how Alexis Franklin, a self-taught 24-year-old digital artist, created the portrait right here.
For ways that you can honor Breonna and ensure her killers are brought to justice, check out this guide. And here are more guides for how to demand justice right now, how to support Black trans lives, how to find mental health resources if you’re a Black woman, how to talk to your relatives about Black Lives Matter, how to donate wisely, how to spot a fake protest story, and how to protest safely.
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