Susan Triolo: Remembering George Floyd
| Published: 05-27-2025 10:41 AM |
May 25th: We remember George Floyd, murdered in Minneapolis at the hands of four police officers. Only because of Darnella Frazier do we know the truth. That 17-year-old courageously videoed Derek Chauvin as he brazenly knelt on Floyd’s neck, while the other cops stood by. On Darnella’s video we watched and heard George Floyd call out “I can’t breathe” while Chauvin choked the life out of him.
When prosecutors announced they might not bring criminal charges, they set off the biggest nationwide uprising since the 1960s, shutting down cities across the U.S.
Chauvin is in jail for 22.5 years for murder and deadly use of force. The other three, served 3.5 years in prison; all have been released, serving state and federal time concurrently.
Today we continue the struggle for racial equity. Sadly, the “George Floyd Justice in Policing Act” failed to become law. The “John Lewis Voting Rights Act” has also failed.
This week, Trump’s Justice Department lifted the dissent decrees on Minneapolis and Louisville calling them “government overreach.”
The decrees called for accountability, reform and transformation of police engaging in unconstitutional policing practices.
Trump and Project 2025 insist on erasing Black history, making inclusion illegal; undoing DEI to further their racial agenda, rolling back historic advances with their “Equality of Opportunity & Meritocracy,” a euphemism for white people advancing, while Trump “crushes and kills our enemies” whether overseas or at home.
Parents of Black children still must “have the talk” with their kids, trying to keep them out of the system, or being killed by cops.
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Black Lives Matter continues growing the movement, resisting Trump’s efforts to silence and erase us. Police brutality continues, and we stand together against oppression.
We remember George Floyd, five years later, continuing to say his name and lift up our constitutional right to life, liberty and pursuit of a diverse, inclusive and equitable society.
Susan Triolo
Sunderland
