Robert Samuels

Toluse Olorunnipa

One Man's Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice

His Name Is George Floyd

J. L. Askew

George Floyd’s story is a tragedy, and his death has become iconic, a marker of our times. In an age of limitless videos, the images of his final moments have been seen by millions.
The book by Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa is a complete account of Floyd’s life and how he met his untimely end. The title, “His Name is George Floyd”, is taken from the chant activists shouted in the massive protests following his death. Subtitled “One Man’s Life and The Struggle for Racial Justice”, the book is much more than a biography. 
The first words in the book are “I love you”, a phrase Floyd often spoke before parting from family or friends. Floyd was a loving person throughout his life and when confined along with millions by the Covid lockdown, he made frequent calls to connect with those close to him. Expressions of love continued to the very end of his life where “Floyd repeatedly found his dreams diminished, deferred, and derailed – in no small part because of the color of his skin.” 
This is the premise of the book, that being Black was the main determinant in Floyd’s life. Guided by this theme, the authors tell of Floyd’s forty-six years leading up to the “nine minutes and 29 seconds he spent gasping for air”, as he died and of the “historic movement for civil rights that followed.”
The authors’ stated hope was to put Floyd in context with externals forces, “never absolving him of responsibility or making excuses for his actions.” This is key because on his final day Floyd was “smoking weed, snorting powdered fentanyl and taking Tylenol.” The book covers at length the external forces affecting Floyd, from the legacy of slavery to his life as a Black man in America.
The book is comprehensive, giving the history of racial disparities in both Houston, where Floyd grew up, and of Minneapolis, where he died. The authors delve into the ancestry of major players, especially contrasting Floyd’s roots with those of Derek Chauvin, the police officer who killed him. The resulting portrait is painted as “white privilege” enjoyed by Chauvin’s ancestors as opposed to the oppression experienced by Floyd’s forebears.
While the book lists multiple reasons for Floyd’s downward trajectory, a single sentence about his final year in high school says the most. “Like Floyd, many of the young men had grown up without fathers.” This factor has proven to be the single greatest influence on a youngster’s life.
But the book looks elsewhere for explanations, making a catalogue of atrocities committed against Blacks since emancipation. After what seems like an endless stream of negativity, a positive story emerges, surprisingly just before he dies, centered on Floyd’s longstanding belief that God was watching over him.
In Texas after his mother’s death in 2018, he, a girlfriend and her uncle were on an impromptu road trip between Houston and Louisiana late at night when they ran out of gas. Driving his car, Floyd was to blame, but tried to calm his friend, saying, “God’s got us.” As he and the uncle tried to push the car, a loud pickup appeared from the darkness, pulling over in front of them and “the most redneck-looking White guy” got out. The girlfriend became fearful, recalling the racist killing of James Byrd, dragged to death from a pickup twenty years earlier in the same area. But Floyd had no qualms, walking up to the stranger, shaking hands, saying they’d run out of gas. The young man was sympathetic, arranging to tow them to a gas station and putting $15 of fuel in their car so they could be on their way. The pleasant memory breaks to the grim present when Floyd speaks his last words.
While the book is a solid biography, it is a flawed as history, steeped in the political divisions of the present. The book would serve well as an addendum to the 1619 Project.

This was a really challenging and moving read. As a Twin Cities resident, it was strange to read about my home through the eyes of strangers. I felt the authors were unfortunately overly sympathetic to local leaders - Jacob Frey and Tim Walz in particular - but was deeply moved by the presence of local activists throughout. Understanding more about George Floyd’s life before his murder made him a household name is extremely valuable to me. His memory will live on with me in a different, richer way after having read this book. Though the subject matter is deeply complex and difficult, the style and structure made this dense book digestible, and I think it is an extremely read for everyone. 

His Name Is George Floyd One Man's Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice

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