“I CAN’T BREATHE”. On May 25th in Minneapolis, a 46-year-old black man named George Floyd died. A white male police officer placed his knee on his neck for almost 10 minutes. George Floyd was a father of five. He was buying cigarettes at a convenience store when a store clerk suspected that he used a counterfeit $20 bill in the transaction. Minutes later his life was taken away. Today we will be talking about the  devastating loss of George Floyd and how he died and why this happened.  

Once the store clerk suspected that George Floyd had used a fake $20 dollar bill he called the police. Once the police officers arrived they immediately pulled a gun on Floyd. At first, he cooperated with the police when they arrested him. However, when the officers were trying to put Floyd into the police car he resisted saying he was claustrophobic. When Floyd got into the car he tried to get out; officer Chauvin pulled him to the ground and put his knee on Floyd’s neck for exactly 9 minutes and 29 seconds. Videos show Floyd yelling out “I can’t breathe” and “mama”. Minutes later Floyd stopped talking and people around were yelling at the officers to take his knee off of Floyd. Minutes later Floyd’s body lay still. Minutes later an ambulance arrives and Floyd is then pronounced dead at a local hospital. 

After the incident was posted on Facebook protests began almost immediately. His death is devastating and wrong. My heart still aches and always will. George Floyd should still be alive today. This all happened over a 20-dollar bill that could’ve been solved if the police officers gave him a chance, but they chose to use their white “privilege” and took his life. 

We black people have had such a hard time with racism. We have been slaves, we have been killed over nothing. 

Officer Chauvin who already had 17 misconduct complaints had been arrested on May 29, 2020, and was charged with second-degree murder and third-degree murder. Also second-degree manslaughter. Then on April 20, 2021, Chauvin was found guilty and sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison. The death of George Floyd has caused some of the biggest protests documented worldwide. This death is so devastating and breaks my heart every time. Racism is an ongoing issue that won’t  end. We’ve fought for so much but clearly not enough. If there is one thing that should change in this life, is that we black people, Hispanics, Muslims, etc. That we get the equality and the rights we deserve.