A year after Floyd's death, looking back and to the future
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The death of George Floyd at the hands of police a year ago this week touched off a nationwide summer of protests calling for justice.
Demonstrators marching through Boston last June crossed in front of the home of Bettye and Robert Freeman, who came out, stood on their steps, and raised a fist in salute.
"The old 1960 Black Power salute."
On the cusp of another summer, Reuters revisited those swept up in the movement one year after George Floyd was pinned beneath an officer’s knee for nearly nine minutes.
"I'm seeing some tremendous young leaders out there. I hope that they keep at it."
Two days after the Freemans stood on their stoop in Boston, demonstrators in Denver, Colorado, laid down and blocked a highway, chanting "I can't breathe." Among them armed with a bullhorn, was 16-year-old Bethel Boateng.
"In that moment, I felt very powerful."
She recently told Reuters that that day wasn't enough for her. She wants to start an activist club at her high school to address racial inequality and police reform.
"It was a hard time period for people of color and they just kept fighting and I just feel like that's what we just need to keep doing."
In the U.S. capital last August, activists descended on the Washington Monument to rally for justice. Among them was Aaron Xavier Wilson.
With a black marker and a piece of cardboard, he stood there with the message, "I AM A MAN."
"I decided to choose this particular sign because it was the same words that were on signs when my grandfather was protesting for civil rights."
The 32-year-old international relations expert who works for a non-profit organization said he was thinking of that history when he crafted his placard.
"There's a lot that hasn't changed and we have a lot still left to go. We're still going to be out here."
Back in Boston, 71-year-old Bettye Freeman is sure there’s more struggle ahead. But she’s ready for it.
“They just have to keep at it. We can't sit back and think that, you know, it's going to solve itself."
