{The teenager} who pulled out her cellphone and recorded the police restraint and dying of George Floyd, serving to to launch a worldwide motion to protest racial injustice, was on Friday awarded a particular quotation by the Pulitzer Prizes.
Darnella Frazier was cited “for courageously recording the homicide of George Floyd, a video that spurred protests in opposition to police brutality, world wide, highlighting the essential position of residents in journalists’ quest for fact and justice,” the Pulitzer Prizes mentioned.
Frazier’s publicist didn’t instantly reply to an Related Press message searching for remark.
Frazier was 17 when she recorded the arrest of Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, on Might 25, 2020.
Her video, which she posted to Fb hours after it occurred, sparked a counting on race in America and calls for for an finish to police brutality.
The video was seen worldwide and was outstanding within the trial of Derek Chauvin, the previous Minneapolis police officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck, pinning him to the pavement for 9 minutes, 29 seconds, as he mentioned repeatedly that he could not breathe.
Chauvin was convicted in April of second-degree unintentional homicide, third-degree homicide and manslaughter. He will probably be sentenced June 25.
‘Modified the course of historical past’
Frazier was additionally honoured final 12 months by PEN America, a literary and human rights group. She was awarded the PEN/Benenson Braveness Award.
PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel mentioned on the time: “With nothing greater than a cellphone and sheer guts, Darnella modified the course of historical past on this nation, sparking a daring motion demanding an finish to systemic anti-Black racism and violence by the hands of police.”
Frazier additionally testified at Chauvin’s trial, telling jurors that she appears at her father and different Black males in her life and thinks about “how that would have been one among them.”
“It has been nights I stayed up, apologizing and apologizing to George Floyd for not doing extra, and never bodily interacting and never saving his life,” she testified, including of Chauvin: “However it’s like, it isn’t what I ought to’ve carried out, it is what he ought to’ve carried out.”
The three different officers concerned in Floyd’s arrest are scheduled to face trial subsequent 12 months on aiding and abetting counts. All 4 officers are additionally charged with violating Floyd’s civil rights.
