An American Uprising 3º Primary

Josephine

In the United States, a black person is killed by a police officer every other day.1 Blacks have a terrible history: they were enslaved until 1865. Their situation has improved since then but racism isn’t finished yet. Today, your life is much more at risk if you are a person of color.

On the 25th of May 2020, a black man called George Floyd was stopped and died after a policeman knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. Americans want revenge and therefore have been manifesting in the

streets in many cities. Why are they manifesting now? Is this killing any different from the ones before?

Here are some of the reasons why this death is so important:

- First of all, a video was taken of the killing of George Floyd which showed the horror of the scene. This video made many people realise what happened.

- Just like in Europe, America has been paralyzed by the coronavirus. But because African-Americans are generally poorer, they have suffered much more from this and many among them died or lost their

jobs. This is what a young lady called Priscilla Borkor said: “It’s either COVID is killing us, cops are killing us or the economy is killing us,”2

- President Trump isn’t helping the situation: since he is in power, he has been using language that encourages division and racism.

Just like in an iceberg, George Floyd is just the visible part of a much bigger problem. The situation of people of color has never been easy. This, together with the COVID crisis and the presence of President Trump, has led to an American uprising. But every tragedy can also bring good changes. 

I want to join George Floyd’s 6-year-old daughter when she says: « My Daddy is changing the

world !»

1 https://time.com/5847967/george-floyd-protests-trump/

2 https://time.com/5847967/george-floyd-protests-trump/