
Floyd: “I can’t breath, my face… Just get up.” More labored breathing.
Chauvin, visibly annoyed, responds: “What do you want?”
Floyd insists more loudly: “I can’t breath! Please, your knee in my neck.”
Minutes pass
Chauvin: “Well, get up and get in the car, man!”
Floyd: “I can’t move!”
Chauvin repeats the command.
Floyd: “Mama— I can’t.”
Floyd says he can’t breathe once more, and then again, repeating himself until his body goes limp.
I meant to write this post days ago, but couldn’t. Each passing day brought a new chance to fool myself into thinking I’d be strong enough to watch the full video of George Floyd’s murder. I wasn’t, and I still haven’t. But I tried again today anyway.