AP examines the George Floyd killing and the lingering undercurrent of racial inequality in seemingly routine encounters that turn violent between African Americans and police.
The police killing of George Floyd was extraordinary on many levels, but as New York-based race and ethnicity writer Aaron Morrison stripped down the narrative it became clear to him that the fatal encounter had started like so many others between African Americans and law enforcement. At the core of Floyd's arrest was a minor offense: the accusation he used a fake $20 bill at a grocery store.
Morrison started thinking about other cases that began over minor offenses and ended with a black person dying after a run-in with police or citizens: Tamir Rice carrying a toy handgun, Eric Garner allegedly selling untaxed cigarettes, Michael Brown jaywalking, Sandra Bland failing to signal a lane change.
Morrison had spent more than a week in Minneapolis covering protests and a memorial service for Floyd. He had visited the scene where Floyd took his last breaths and talked to some of Floyd’s family and to protesters with this question in mind: What is a black life worth?
Chicago video journalist Noreen Nasir works on Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis, May 30, 2020.
AP Photo / Julio Cortez
Chicago-based race and ethnicity video journalist Noreen Nasir was in the Twin Cities with Morrison and was starting to pick up on the same theme in her own reporting. During a rally at the Minnesota Capitol in St. Paul, she videotaped a protester who was holding a sign that read: Human life (does not equal) 20 bucks. Nasir crafted a video to accompany Morrison's text piece, focusing deeply on the views of one Minnesota resident, while New York-based photographer Bebeto Matthews made poignant images.
Seen through a makeshift wooden barrier blocking traffic on Chicago Avenue, a mural of George Floyd stands amid a growing memorial, June 2, 2020, at the site of his fatal May 25 encounter with Minneapolis police.
AP Photo / Bebeto Matthews
Terrence Floyd, second from right, brother of George Floyd, is comforted, June 1, 2020, as he sits at the intersection of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue, the spot where his brother died at the hands of Minneapolis police.
AP Photo / Bebeto Matthews
Terrence Floyd, second from right, brother of George Floyd, is comforted, June 1, 2020, as he touches the spot at the intersection of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue where his brother died at the hands of Minneapolis police.
AP Photo / Bebeto Matthews
Terrence Floyd stands, June 1, 2020, near the spot where his brother George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police on May 25.
AP Photo / Bebeto Matthews
Terrence Floyd stands at center, June 1, 2020, at the intersection of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue where his brother George Floyd was killed while being restrained by police on May 25.
AP Photo / Bebeto Matthews
Mike Abumayyaleh, second from right, co-owner of Cup Foods, arrives for a memorial for George Floyd in Minneapolis, June 4, 2020. Floyd died May 25 after a Cup Foods employee called police to report that Floyd allegedly bought cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill. Abumayyaleh's t-shirt says “We can’t breathe,” a reference to Floyd's last words under the knee of former police officer Derek Chauvin.
AP Photo / Bebeto Matthews
A protester raises a clenched fist at a memorial, June 1, 2020, outside Cup Foods in Minneapolis, where George Floyd was killed while being restrained by police on Memorial Day.
AP Photo / John Minchillo
The story was edited by top stories editor Mary Sedor, who advised the reporters to include statistics showing that African American men and women are injured or killed in confrontations with police at a rate vastly disproportionate to their numbers in the population.
The package led the AP News site and was featured on the Facebook News Feed during the first-week launch of that new service. The text, photos and video – widely used by AP members – scored more than 40,000 downloads.
For outstanding work that cast Floyd’s killing in light of larger systemic issues of race, Morrison, Nasir and Matthews win AP’s Best of the Week award.
