Ta-Nehisi Coates Interviews Breonna Taylor’s Mother For Vanity Fair’s September Issue
The September issue of Vanity Fair, which features Ta-Nehisi Coates as a guest editor. is available now.
The issue, titled “The Great Fire,” also features filmmaker Ava DuVernay, writer Jacqueline Woodson, comic book illustrator Shawn Martinbrough, John Boyega, Noname, Billy Porter, Yara Shahidi and many other creatives.
Coates wrote a powerful story about Breonna Taylor, the 26-year-old EMT worker who was killed by police in Louisville, Kentucky in March. He also interviewed Taylor’s mother, Tameka Palmer in the piece, which is titled “A Beautiful Life.”
Only Brett Hankison, one of the three officers involved in her death, have been fired. Jon Mattingly and Myles Cosgroveto are still employed by the Louisville Police Department. None have been officially charged in her killing.
V.F.’s editor in chief wrote in the editor’s letter, “Partnering with Ta-Nehisi under the banner of Vanity Fair has been an honor, though the title ‘guest editor’ is not honorary. He is the driving force of this body of work, both creator and collaborator.”
She continued, “‘Over Zoom, on email, in text threads, we planned stories, selected photos, assigned illustrators, debated headlines, all as a team. It was our shared goal to make a magazine that would capture the spirit of this time, and that it would be beautiful, a keepsake. An object to push back against ephemerality. A way to remember, and a sign of things to come.”
The issue can be viewed here.
BET has been covering every angle of the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks and other social justice cases and the subsequent aftermath and protests. For our continuing coverage, click here.
