THIS WEEK


The Black Issue 2022 Opinion: His Name is George Floyd


only knew through his dying screams of “I can’t breathe.” Seeking to replace the iconographic image with the nuanced human being, we asked ourselves two essential questions: Who was George Floyd? And what was it like to live in his version of America? The search for those answers took us deep into the places he traversed during his life and brought us face to face with the people who knew both his voice and his story. We sat for Sun day dinner with Floyd’s large extended


Toluse Olorunnipa and Robert Samuels


The authors of His Name is George Floyd: One Man’s Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice discuss their writing and research of the book, and Floyd’s legacy


The making of His Name is George Floyd


‘‘O


h my, what a day to be Black, Plan come together beautiful, we back Facts, table turn we show you how to act With respect + gratitude u better hear me we back…” — George Floyd, undated writings


Before he would lose his life under the knee of a police officer, before the viral video of his death would turn him into a global icon for racial justice,


before his name would be spoken by presidents, prime ministers and the Pope, George Floyd was a Black man with a pen, searching for his voice. Floyd’s lyrical ode to Blackness, one of dozens of first- person writings we discovered while writing his biography, reflected a fleeting period of good fortune in a life beset by trials and troubles. While he wrote optimistically about the beaut of being Black, he understood well that many of the troubles he had faced during a lifetime of striving were made more difficult because of the colour of his skin. As journalists, our journey to understand Floyd’s essence and the systemic barriers that buffeted his path began in the summer of 2020, in the weeks aſter his videotaped death sparked a worldwide movement for civil rights. Reporting alongside our colleagues at the Washington Post, we produced a six-part series that autumn, analysing how the various forms of institutional inequalit that people were protesting against had been a part of Floyd’s story since birth. When we decided to expand on the series and create a definitive biography of Floyd, we knew that searching for his voice would be key to understanding the man behind the historic movement. For more than a year, we conducted hundreds of additional interviews with the people who understood Floyd best to craſt an intimate portrait of the man millions


10 20th May 2022


We knew that searching for George’s voice would be key to understanding the man behind the historic moment


family, learning the history of his ancestors, who once atained wealth only to have it seized during an era of racial terror. We got haircuts from his barber, with whom he shared his deepest internal turmoil. We traversed Houston’s Third Ward with his closest friends, listening as they laughed over old memories of the playful jokester who would talk through movies only to ask about the plot aſterward. We sat with his girlfriend, one of his brothers, Philonise, and other loved ones as they broke down in tears, flooded with grief over a life cut tragically short.


Laying foundations


While the remarkable candour of Floyd’s friends, family, lovers, teammates, roommates and others helped us re-create conversations and key scenes from his life, some of the most revealing details we found came through exclusive access to Floyd’s own writen words. In rap lyrics he scribbled on loose paper, poems he sketched out on the back of receipts, and diary entries in which he agonised over his sins, Floyd laid bare his internal trauma.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48