Darnella Frazier was the 17-year-old woman who had the wisdom and courage to use her smart phone to record the last 9:29 minutes of George Floyd’s life on May 25, 2020. That video was a key piece of evidence in the trial and conviction of Derek Chauvin this April for second and third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter of Mr. Floyd. [1]
On the first anniversary of that horrible murder, Ms. Frazier continued her witnessing by making the following post on FACEBOOK:
Frazier’s Anniversary Statement [2]
“A year ago, today I witnessed a murder. The victim’s name was George Floyd. Although this wasn’t the first time, I’ve seen a black man get killed at the hands of the police, this is the first time I witnessed it happen in front of me. Right in front of my eyes, a few feet away. I didn’t know this man from a can of paint, but I knew his life mattered. I knew that he was in pain. I knew that he was another black man in danger with no power.’
“I was only 17 at the time, just a normal day for me walking my 9-year-old cousin to the corner store, not even prepared for what I was about to see, not even knowing my life was going to change on this exact day in those exact moments… it did. It changed me.”
“It changed how I viewed life. It made me realize how dangerous it is to be Black in America. We shouldn’t have to walk on eggshells around police officers, the same people that are supposed to protect and serve. We are looked at as thugs, animals, and criminals, all because of the color of our skin.”
“Why are Black people the only ones viewed this way when every race has some type of wrongdoing? None of us are to judge. We are all human.”
“I am 18 now and I still hold the weight and trauma of what I witnessed a year ago. It’s a little easier now, but I’m not who I used to be. A part of my childhood was taken from me. My 9-year-old cousin who witnessed the same thing I did got a part of her childhood taken from her. Having to up and leave because my home was no longer safe, waking up to reporters at my door, closing my eyes at night only to see a man who is brown like me, lifeless on the ground. I couldn’t sleep properly for weeks. I used to shake so bad at night my mom had to rock me to sleep. Hopping from hotel to hotel because we didn’t have a home and looking over our back every day in the process. Having panic and anxiety attacks every time I see a police car, not knowing who to trust because a lot of people are evil with bad intentions. I hold that weight.”
“A lot of people call me a hero even though I don’t see myself as one. I was just in the right place at the right time. Behind this smile, behind these awards, behind the publicity, I’m a girl trying to heal from something I am reminded of every day. Everyone talks about the girl who recorded George Floyd‘s death, but to actually be her is a different story.”
“Not only did this affect me, my family too. We all experienced change. My mom the most. I strive every day to be strong for her because she was strong for me when I couldn’t be strong for myself.”
“ Even though this was a traumatic life-changing experience for me, I’m proud of myself. If it weren’t for my video, the world wouldn’t have known the truth. I own that. My video didn’t save George Floyd, but it put his murderer away and off the streets. You can view George Floyd anyway you choose to view him, despite his past, because don’t we all have one? He was a loved one, someone’s son, someone’s father, someone’s brother, and someone’s friend.”
“We the people won’t take the blame, you won’t keep pointing fingers at us as if it’s our fault, as if we are criminals.”
“ I don’t think people understand how serious death is…that person is never coming back. These officers shouldn’t get to decide if someone gets to live or not. It’s time these officers start getting held accountable. Murdering people and abusing your power while doing it is not doing your job. It shouldn’t have to take people to actually go through something to understand it’s not ok. It’s called having a heart and understanding right from wrong.”
“George Floyd, I can’t express enough how I wish things could have went different, but I want you to know you will always be in my heart. I’ll always remember this day because of you. May your soul rest in peace. May you rest in the most beautiful roses. “
Conclusion [3]
Later that same day, Frazier’s anniversary essay was beautifully read on MSNBC by Caroline Randall Williams, an award-winning poet, young adult novelist and cookbook author. She is the Writer-in-Residence of Medicine, Health and Society at Vanderbilt University and the great granddaughter of Anna Bontemps, the African-American poet, novelist and noted member of the Harlem Renaissance, and the granddaughter of Avon Willima, a Nashville attorney and key leader of that city’s civil rights movement. Another ancestor is her great-great-grandfather: Edmund Pettus, U.S. Senator from Alabama, senior officer of the Confederate States Army and grand dragon of the Ku Klux Klan, for whom the infamous Edmund Pettus Bridge in Alabama is named. Williams has said that“the black people I come from were owned and raped by the white people I come from.”
As Michelle Norris, a Washington Post columnist, Minnesota native and graduate of the University of Minnesota, stated, Frazier “was the witness George Floyd needed on May 25, 2020. She was the witness we all needed—the public, the police, a country still grappling with racial codes that are stitched into the fabric of our governing institutions. She is the hero of this story.”
Moreover, said Norris, Frazier’s “bravery is a reminder that we too must not look away, and not just in the most wicked moments of bias but also in the small things that grease the runway toward larger prejudice. We must not look away when we see the softer kind of oppression that masks itself in offhand comments, and jokes, and the denigration and dismissal of ‘those people.’
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[1] Witnessing, dwkcommentaries.com (April 25, 2021); Derek Chauvin Trial: Week Seven (CONVICTION), dwkcommentaries.com (April 21, 2021).
[2] Frazier, 1 year anniversary, FACEBOOK (May 25, 2021); Del Rio, Darnella Frazier, the teenager who recorded George Floyd’s murder, speaks out, N.Y. Times (May 25, 2021); Knowles, Teen speaks out a year after filming George Floyd’s death, saying her video’’put his murderer away,’ Wash. Post (May 25, 2021).
[3] Caroline Randall Williams reads Darnella Frazier’s statement on the anniversary of George Floyd ‘s murder, MSNBC (May 25, 2021); Caroline Randall Williams;
Caroline Randall Williams, Wikipedia.