Jennifer Lawrence joined Twitter to demand justice for Breonna Taylor

After years of giving social media a wide berth, actor Jennifer Lawrence has found a compelling reason to join Twitter.

Under the handle @JLawrence_RepUs, the “Silver Linings Playbook” and “Hunger Games” star called on Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron to prosecute the police officers responsible for the death of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman who was fatally shot in her Louisville home shortly after midnight on March 13.

While Taylor and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, were in bed, the officers, who had a “no-knock” search warrant for her apartment, used a battering ram to gain access. The Louisville police have said the officers knocked and identified themselves before entering. Taylor’s family and neighbors told the Louisville Courier Journal that Walker fired his gun in self-defense, hitting one of the officers, as the officers had come in unannounced and he thought they were experiencing a break-in. Officers returned fire, and Taylor died with at least eight bullet wounds.

“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,” Lawrence’s June 17 post read. “And yet, those calls have gone unanswered.”

“As a Louisvillian, as a human being, I cannot be silent,” Lawrence continued. “I join all those who are speaking out against this grave injustice, calling upon Attorney General Daniel Cameron to take immediate action to hold those responsible for her death accountable.”

As of June 19, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer had initiated termination proceedings against Brett Hankinson, one of the officers involved in Taylor’s death. All three officers had been placed on administrative leave, and the FBI opened its own investigation into Taylor’s killing in May. Louisville Metro Police Department Chief Steve Conrad was fired on June 1 after it was revealed that the officers who killed Louisville restaurant owner David McAtee earlier that day did not have their body cameras turned on, as was also the case in Taylor’s killing.

On June 11, Louisville’s city council unanimously passed a bill nicknamed “Breonna’s Law” that bans the use of “no-knock” search warrants.

RepresentUs describes itself as “a powerful movement of independents, progressives, and conservatives … building on America’s long tradition of pursuing federal reform through the states.”

Lawrence’s first tweet from this new account, on June 16, was a short video explaining how corruption has “broken our criminal justice system.”

Lawrence has previously been vocal about wanting to avoid sharing her opinions online.

“There is always so much backlash,” she told InStyle in 2018. “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,” she said.