May 2020

George Floyd was the unarmed black man who was handcuffed and pinned to the ground by four Minneapolis police officers on Monday, May 25. He can be heard pleading for his life for almost four minutes with an officer’s knee crushing his neck to the pavement. Bystanders can be heard on a video trying to get the officers to stop. Floyd’s last words were, “I can’t breathe,” while calling for his mother.

I work with a group of very bright students in an economically challenged neighborhood in the Cincinnati area. Those of us who have been born in white privilege are often blind to the challenges that children of color have growing up in a climate of fear. The emotional and psychological impact of racism is deeply ingrained in our culture.