20th June, 2020
Beyoncé dropped a new song late Friday, in the closing moments of Juneteenth.
The song titled “Black Parade” to promote Black pride made its debut on the streaming platform Tidal.
“Happy Juneteenth Weekend! I hope we continue to share joy and celebrate each other, even in the midst of struggle. Please continue to remember our beauty, strength and power,” the singer wrote on Instagram.
“‘BLACK PARADE’ celebrates you, your voice and your joy and will benefit Black-owned small businesses.”
Her new song comes out after she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general on Sunday, demanding the three officers involved in the killing of Breonna Taylor be criminally charged.
Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, was killed on March 13 after officers from the Louisville Metro Police Department busted through the door of her home around 12:40 a.m. to execute a no-knock search warrant for drugs.
No drugs were found in the home and the suspect at the center of the police investigation had already been taken into custody at another residence, Taylor’s mother said in a lawsuit.
“Three months have passed — and the LMPD’s investigations have created more questions than answers,” Beyoncé wrote in her letter.
The singer made three demands in her letter to Attorney General Daniel Cameron: that criminal charges be brought against the officers involved in the killing, that he would commit to transparency in the investigation and subsequent prosecution of the officers and that he would investigate LMPD’s response to what she called “Breonna Taylor’s murder” and the “pervasive practices that result in repeated deaths of unarmed Black citizens.”
Beyoncé also questioned what she said were inconsistencies in the LMPD’s accounts of the night police killed Taylor.
However, Mayor of Louisville, Greg Fischer, on Friday, said Brett Hankison, one of three officers involved, would lose his badge.
The others have been placed on administrative leave but Mayor Fischer did not provide more details regarding the decision to fire Mr. Hankison, according to BBC.