Statement by Dr. Gail C. Christopher, NCHE Executive Director
Five years ago, at the intersection of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue in South Minneapolis, George Floyd died after Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, pressed his knee on George Floyd’s neck. Floyd was face down on the concrete, insisting he couldn’t breathe and, in distress, expressing a fear of dying. Videos of the prone, restrained 46-year-old, suspected of using a counterfeit $20 bill, went viral, spurring massive mobilization against police brutality and racial injustice: Twenty-six million people protested in communities across the country, as diverse populations united in a call for change.
Today, many in America believe our nation is moving away from this moment of “racial reckoning,” the movement that poured millions into equity initiatives, fostered police reforms, increased awareness of systemic racism, and revealed a renewed sense of urgency and unity against racial bias not felt since the 1960s Civil Rights Movement…