The Murder of George Floyd and the Global Reckoning

On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, was murdered by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who knelt on Floyd's neck for over nine minutes while Floyd repeated "I can't breathe." Bystander video of the killing went viral, igniting the largest protest movement in American history. An estimated 15-26 million people participated in Black Lives Matter protests across all 50 states and over 60 countries. Cities saw both peaceful marches and civil unrest. Confederate monuments were toppled across the South. Corporations, institutions, and governments issued statements on racial justice. Chauvin was convicted of murder in April 2021 — a rare conviction of a police officer for killing a Black person. The movement accelerated conversations about systemic racism, police reform, and racial equity that extended far beyond the United States. Floyd's dying words — "I can't breathe" — became a global symbol of the ongoing struggle for racial justice, connecting the 21st century to the long arc of history from slavery through Jim Crow to the present.