Caleb H.: Who was George Floyd?
Robert Samuels: George Floyd was a 46-year-old man who was living in Minneapolis, who died at the hands of a police officer in May of 2020. Most people know him because his death sparked thousands of protests around the world, the biggest protest movement ever seen in American history. But I know a little bit more about him because I got a chance to meet his friends and his family.
And they will tell you that when he was growing up, he was a tall, gregarious, friendly guy who everyone in the community knew. He played football and basketball, but when he was young, he had this dream of becoming a Supreme Court justice. And he wanted to do that because he wanted to serve the law. But because he was living in a part of Houston, Texas, that was segregated and did not have as many opportunities as places that were all white, people, when they met George Floyd, didn’t think he could do it. So they encouraged him to stop thinking about being a lawyer and start thinking about playing a sport like football, and he becomes really good at football. But, because he was not able to focus on his academics, he ends up in trouble and spends most of his adult life trying to rebuild himself. And that’s how he ends up in Minneapolis, which is where the world got to know him.
Caleb H.: Thanks, Robert. That was Robert Samuels from the newsroom of The Washington Post.
