Black Lives Still Matter, Systemic Racism Still Needs Dismantling

Please scroll down for recommended readings from which these quotes were taken

George Floyd was by no means the first black man to be killed by the police.

Or to have suffered under a racist system that has infinite expressions.

Access to and quality of education and healthcare, intergenerational trauma and its effects on the body, and the prison system that’s designed to be fueled by dark bodies are just some of those expressions.

It’s been two years since George Floyd was killed by Derek Chauvin. The protests that followed launched the US – and, in a way, the world – into a new stage of racial reckoning that the US is still in. Some new laws have been passed, and some old statues finally toppled.

But the system holds.

On the 2nd anniversary of George Floyd’s killing, I’d like to share a beautiful interview with you (on the first anniversary I’ve shared this article and a podcast episode).

It’s an interview that reminds us that just like systemic racism swallows lives, the whole system can be seen in the life of just one man.

It’s an interview on a book – His Name Is George Floyd: One Man’s Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice – that was just published. I have to admit that I haven’t read it yet but I can’t wait to do so!

But for now, please enjoy this warm, beautiful, but also engaging and educational conversation with Washington Post reporters Toluse Olorunnipa and Robert Samuels.

Also, let me share some contemporary (meaning, you might have heard about them) recommended readings with you!

• Kehinde Andrews. Back to Black: Retelling Black Radicalism for the 21st Century
• Ijeoma Oluo. Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America
• Ibram X Kendi. How to Be an Antiracist