How Systemic Racism Shaped George Floyd's Life

As we approach the second anniversary of the murder of George Floyd, two journalists report on the life of the man whose death sparked a massive protest movement and a national conversation about race. Washington Post reporters Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa drew on hundreds of interviews and countless public and private records to reconstruct the course of Floyd's often-troubled life. A gentle man who sometimes worried that his size intimidated people, George Floyd grew up in poverty, and had big aspirations. But the authors argue his opportunities were limited time and again by the effects of systemic racism. Their new book is His Name Is George Floyd: One Man's Life, and the Struggle for Racial Justice.