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His Name Is George Floyd: One Man's Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite History & Biography (2022)FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD AND LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE; SHORT-LISTED FOR THE J. ANTHONY LUKAS PRIZE; A BCALA 2023 HONOR NONFICTION AWARD WINNER.
A landmark biography by two prizewinning Washington Post reporters that reveals how systemic racism shaped George Floyd's life and legacy—from his family’s roots in the tobacco fields of North Carolina, to ongoing inequality in housing, education, health care, criminal justice, and policing—telling the story of how one man’s tragic experience brought about a global movement for change.
“It is a testament to the power of His Name Is George Floyd that the book’s most vital moments come not after Floyd’s death, but in its intimate, unvarnished and scrupulous account of his life . . . Impressive.”
—New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice)
“Since we know George Floyd’s death with tragic clarity, we must know Floyd’s America—and life—with tragic clarity. Essential for our times.”
—Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to Be an Antiracist
“A much-needed portrait of the life, times, and martyrdom of George Floyd, a chronicle of the racial awakening sparked by his brutal and untimely death, and an essential work of history I hope everyone will read.”
—Henry Louis Gates, Jr., author of The Black This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song
The events of that day are now tragically on May 25, 2020, George Floyd became the latest Black person to die at the hands of the police, murdered outside of a Minneapolis convenience store by white officer Derek Chauvin. The video recording of his death set off a series of protests in the United States and around the world, awakening millions to the dire need for reimagining this country’s broken systems of policing. But behind a face that would be graffitied onto countless murals, and a name that has become synonymous with civil rights, there is the reality of one man’s stolen a life beset by suffocating systemic pressures that ultimately proved inescapable.
This biography of George Floyd shows the athletic young boy raised in the projects of Houston’s Third Ward who would become a father, a partner, a friend, and a man constantly in search of a better life. In retracing Floyd’s story, Washington Post reporters Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa bring to light the determination Floyd carried as he faced the relentless struggle to survive as a Black man in America. Placing his narrative within the larger context of America’s deeply troubled history of institutional racism, His Name Is George Floyd examines the Floyd family’s roots in slavery and sharecropping, the segregation of his Houston schools, the overpolicing of his communities, the devastating snares of the prison system, and his attempts to break free from drug dependence—putting today's inequality into uniquely human terms. Drawing upon hundreds of interviews and extensive original reporting, Samuels and Olorunnipa offer a poignant and moving exploration of George Floyd’s America, revealing how a man who simply wanted to breathe ended up touching the world.
A landmark biography by two prizewinning Washington Post reporters that reveals how systemic racism shaped George Floyd's life and legacy—from his family’s roots in the tobacco fields of North Carolina, to ongoing inequality in housing, education, health care, criminal justice, and policing—telling the story of how one man’s tragic experience brought about a global movement for change.
“It is a testament to the power of His Name Is George Floyd that the book’s most vital moments come not after Floyd’s death, but in its intimate, unvarnished and scrupulous account of his life . . . Impressive.”
—New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice)
“Since we know George Floyd’s death with tragic clarity, we must know Floyd’s America—and life—with tragic clarity. Essential for our times.”
—Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to Be an Antiracist
“A much-needed portrait of the life, times, and martyrdom of George Floyd, a chronicle of the racial awakening sparked by his brutal and untimely death, and an essential work of history I hope everyone will read.”
—Henry Louis Gates, Jr., author of The Black This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song
The events of that day are now tragically on May 25, 2020, George Floyd became the latest Black person to die at the hands of the police, murdered outside of a Minneapolis convenience store by white officer Derek Chauvin. The video recording of his death set off a series of protests in the United States and around the world, awakening millions to the dire need for reimagining this country’s broken systems of policing. But behind a face that would be graffitied onto countless murals, and a name that has become synonymous with civil rights, there is the reality of one man’s stolen a life beset by suffocating systemic pressures that ultimately proved inescapable.
This biography of George Floyd shows the athletic young boy raised in the projects of Houston’s Third Ward who would become a father, a partner, a friend, and a man constantly in search of a better life. In retracing Floyd’s story, Washington Post reporters Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa bring to light the determination Floyd carried as he faced the relentless struggle to survive as a Black man in America. Placing his narrative within the larger context of America’s deeply troubled history of institutional racism, His Name Is George Floyd examines the Floyd family’s roots in slavery and sharecropping, the segregation of his Houston schools, the overpolicing of his communities, the devastating snares of the prison system, and his attempts to break free from drug dependence—putting today's inequality into uniquely human terms. Drawing upon hundreds of interviews and extensive original reporting, Samuels and Olorunnipa offer a poignant and moving exploration of George Floyd’s America, revealing how a man who simply wanted to breathe ended up touching the world.
428 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 17, 2022
362 people are currently reading
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 537 reviews
November 16, 2022
America, you picked a crook to be your martyr. And now you're milking him for all it's worth, which I frankly find disgusting.
June 30, 2023
His Name Is George Floyd: One Man's Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice is a thoroughly researched, well written biography of George Floyd written by two prominent Washington Post reporters. The authors conducted over 400 interviews to provide a robust portrait of Floyd's distinctive experiences in America. Floyd's tragic, senseless death illustrates the societal forces that buffeted his life's journey.
Floyd's life experiences provide insight into how racism operates in the US. Overt racism has transitioned into calcified, insidious racism that creates relentless traumas. Mass incarceration due to the war on drugs has resulted in many people being unable to find housing or employment once they are released from prison which then results in recidivism. It's a horrendous, vicious circle.
One of the surprising statistics in the book is that 0.35% of citizen complaints nationwide about police conduct result in discipline for police officers. As the world reacted to the death of George Floyd, it brought to the forefront the need for police reform and training.
As a country, we still have a long way to go to eliminate systemic racism and discrimination.
Floyd's life experiences provide insight into how racism operates in the US. Overt racism has transitioned into calcified, insidious racism that creates relentless traumas. Mass incarceration due to the war on drugs has resulted in many people being unable to find housing or employment once they are released from prison which then results in recidivism. It's a horrendous, vicious circle.
One of the surprising statistics in the book is that 0.35% of citizen complaints nationwide about police conduct result in discipline for police officers. As the world reacted to the death of George Floyd, it brought to the forefront the need for police reform and training.
As a country, we still have a long way to go to eliminate systemic racism and discrimination.
October 7, 2022
I didn’t think I would like this book because I’m tired of the many books on racial justice. This is not that. These authors gave George Perry Floyd the presidential treatment, detailing his life as soon me might expect any person who had such an outsized impact on the nation/world. They did fantastic research as well as story telling. I was deeply moved. My only criticism is that part three lacked the focus and specificity of the early sections.
May 24, 2022
The disgusting act of taking a body and parading it as a puppet to serve the political agenda of the authors. Truly the ”press” won't stop at anything. It reminds me of the KKK practice of exhibiting the body as a threat to the community.
December 25, 2022
I ended up in a really weird argument with a man who posted the most-liked review of His Name is George Floyd (as of December '22) whose post and comments basically consist of insulting George Floyd and calling the book trash, in spite of having clearly never actually read the book. He insists he's read the book (despite complaining about things that are not in the book), and justifies his insults toward Floyd by citing the strawman caricatures of the man shouted from MAGA rooftops which, at their best wildly misrepresent the life and character of George Floyd, and at their worst just make a bunch of shit up. So naturally, it's the leading 'likes' getter on Good Reads.
What is sad and fascinating is that all the clearest rebuttals of all this spewed nonsense is contained in the book that the racist trolls haven't actually read and have no intention of reading.
A few of the racist trolls' go-to talking points:
The book tries to make George Floyd out to be an angel.
There were moments in the first few chapters where I was afraid this might turn into some kind of hagiography. Then I realized that we're all saints when we're children. But you have to show where George Floyd started to understand where he ended up. And authors Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa do not shy away from where he ended up. Through extensive interviews with people who knew Floyd at every stage of his life (teachers, coaches, friends, family, girlfriends, religious leaders, fellow 5th Ward street urchins, etc), they reveal that George Floyd was generally thought of as a good guy who just couldn't manage to live up to his potential.
Part of that missed potential had to do with his personality. He was a gentle knucklehead prone to making bad decisions. He naively pinned his future on spinning a successful stint as a high school athlete into a future in pro sports (the best of a very limited choice of options for a lot of 5th Ward young men). He had trouble holding a job throughout most of his life. He struggled with various forms of addiction. He was a low-level drug peddler to help make money to support his family. The serious drug dealers thought he was pretty bad at it, so he was never part of any organized drug gang. He just didn't have the temperament of a criminal, they thought.
But another big part of that missed potential had to do with being a young black man in Houston, TX. The accepted wisdom is that there have always been a lot of police in Houston's 5th Ward because there is a lot of crime. But decades of sociological analysis reveals that it's the other way around. There's a lot of crime because there are a lot of police. And in Houston, particularly, those police had quotas, so they were picking people up left or right and letting the system sort them out. Did George Floyd ever break a law? He absolutely did, multiple times. But the number of times Floyd was arrested and then released because he didn't actually do anything is pretty telling. Samuels and Olorunnipa use George Floyd's life as a case study, of sorts, to explore the systematic racism that stacks the deck against kids like George Floyd before they can even get a foot in the door.
For example, did you know that in the 80s and 90s, during the crack epidemic that ravaged poor black communities, funding for law enforcement and prisons skyrocketed, even though the communities were pleading for more funding for mental health and addiction treatment programs? Their pleas fell on deaf ears. So, naturally, in the 2010s, during the opioid epidemic that ravaged poor white communities, funding for mental health and addiction treatment skyrocketed. Texas is a particularly bad case. The main reason Floyd was even in Minnesota was because there he had access to addiction-treatment programs that Texas explicitly under-funded or limited access to, because Conservative Texans think drug addiction makes you evil and not worthy of help, only punishment. There was a whole community of Houston refugees in Minnesota trying desperate to get the help that Texas stingily refused to offer. So Floyd's life circumstances played a much larger role in his criminal history than his innate personality ever did.
But the authors attempt to take an honest look at both aspects. You definitely don't come away from the story thinking George Floyd is an angel. You don't feel like putting him on a pedestal. You're disappointed in him when he makes bad decisions, but you sympathize with him because there but for the grace of God go I.
George Floyd is evil because he threatened a pregnant woman with a gun.
So, first of all, no he didn't. Leaving aside the fact that Arecely Henriquez was not pregnant (that was a detail invented by Conservative Media Pundits to make George Floyd's death seem more deserving), Ms. Henriquez stated to the police and to the authors of this book that she could not confidently name Floyd as the man in her house with the gun.
Was George Floyd involved in the incident? Yes he was. The likely scenario (pieced together from interviews from witnesses and Floyd confidants) was that Floyd was asked to be the driver in a robbery scheme where one group of guys decided to rob the house of a drug dealer to steal a stash of cash. Floyd borrowed his girlfriend's car, and then they ended up at the wrong house. After poor Ms. Henriquez was assaulted, they escaped, but not before a neighbor got the license plate number. The police had no leads for a few months, until Floyd was caught, still driving the same car. As he refused to name any of the other assailants, he was the sole person charged with the crime, and since there was enough evidence to place him at the scene, he would almost certainly lose if he tried to fight in court. The sentence would likely have been twenty years or more in prison. His lawyer convinced him to sign a plea deal for five. So George Floyd probably admitted to a crime he didn't commit (the assault) in exchange for 15 years of freedom. As with a lot of things in the lives of Floyd and other 5th Ward denizens, it seemed like the best of a lot of bad options.
George Floyd doesn't deserve to have a book written about him.
I kind of object to this on principal. I think every human being who has ever lived has a story to tell, and George Floyd was just as human as the rest of us. But in the broader sense, Samuels and Ororunnipa didn't just go out and chose some random guy to write a book about. George Floyd didn't ask to become the focal point of the biggest civil-rights event of the 21st Century. With as much progress and awareness that has arisen from his tragic death, Floyd's family and friends would probably trade it all in to have him back on Earth, still trying to make something of his life.
George Floyd, by an awful confluence of event, was just in the right/wrong place at the right/wrong time to spark a national outrage that was perfectly timed to give a glimmer of hope for a long-sought victory in the modern civil rights movement. You needed a policeman who was a bit too in love with a dangerous restraint method who behaves transparently badly in front of lots of witnesses. You needed one of the bystanders to be a trained martial artist who recognized and pointed out to the cop the inherent risks of that restraint method. You needed one of the bystanders to be a trained EMT who recognized and pointed out to the cop that Floyd was struggling to breathe and then became unconscious. You needed several people recording all this from multiple angles, including video of Derick Chauvin acknowledging but otherwise ignoring their warnings. You needed a mayor and a governor who were willing to take the side of the victim. You needed the pent up tensions resulting from the Quarantine that fueled activist fervor. The lead council against Derick Chauvin stated his amazement that in spite of the overwhelming evidence, the truly disgusting history of cops being let off the hook for murdering innocent people left his team in doubt about the final verdict until it was actually read. That guilty verdict was truly a seminal moment in civil rights history, and telling George Floyd's story is a key element in exploring and analyzing that moment.
George Floyd's girlfriend at the time of his death, Courtney Ross, discusses a key point in the aftermath of the tragedy. She points out that there came a moment where there were two George Floyds. There was the man she knew. The gentle lunkhead who did his best to overcome his demons, though he wasn't always successful. The son, the brother, the father. But then there was born George Floyd the icon. Not George the saint. But George they symbol. His death became a rallying cry for change, and ultimately led to a small but loud victory in the form of a once unthinkable guilty verdict against a white cop who pointlessly killed a black man. That's an important story that definitely deserved to be told.
We didn't need all the liberal politics in the last section of the book.
This point is more debatable, but in general, the political landscape surrounding the Derick Chauvin trial is just as important a part of the tale as Floyd's life.
Is the book politically biased? Only insofar as it depicts Republicans constantly resisting any kinds of laws or policies that actually help poor black communities or make police more accountable. Only insofar as it depicts Conservatives advocating that the answer to crime is more prisons and more police. Only insofar as as it reported George Floyd's family's unimpressed feelings toward President Trump's limp response, and the warmth and genuine concern they felt from President Biden.
But the authors don't shy away from blaming both parties for the 'Tough On Crime' mantra that poured gasoline on the drug and crime fires of the 80s and 90s. They don't shy away from the problematic rhetorical ambiguity of the "Defund the Police" slogan, and how it was commandeered by a wide variety of activists for a lot of different purposes. Or how some activists crossed lines with their destructive protests and unrealistic demands of a system and culture not prepared to execute instantaneous paradigm shifts. Some of these activists are presented such that you can sympathize with their goals, but it never insists you agree with their methods, and how they often did more harm than good.
So, no, I don't think the book was too political. The politics is a key part of why things are the way they are, and why they are so hard to change.
In the end...
If you're a racist troll who isn't even going to read the book, feel free to go yell at your made-up boogie man. And keep on putting your easily falsifiable claims in writing so it is clear that you haven't read the book and have an 'opinion' that can be readily dismissed.
If you're genuinely interested in educating yourself about the actual details of the life and death of George Floyd, and why his story is such an important cultural milestone, you honestly won't find a more thoroughly researched, more informative, and more readable account.
And go 'like' the highest-rated 5-star reviews so they can get those top spots. They're way more representative of the attitudes of people who've actually read the book, and deserve to be there.
What is sad and fascinating is that all the clearest rebuttals of all this spewed nonsense is contained in the book that the racist trolls haven't actually read and have no intention of reading.
A few of the racist trolls' go-to talking points:
The book tries to make George Floyd out to be an angel.
There were moments in the first few chapters where I was afraid this might turn into some kind of hagiography. Then I realized that we're all saints when we're children. But you have to show where George Floyd started to understand where he ended up. And authors Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa do not shy away from where he ended up. Through extensive interviews with people who knew Floyd at every stage of his life (teachers, coaches, friends, family, girlfriends, religious leaders, fellow 5th Ward street urchins, etc), they reveal that George Floyd was generally thought of as a good guy who just couldn't manage to live up to his potential.
Part of that missed potential had to do with his personality. He was a gentle knucklehead prone to making bad decisions. He naively pinned his future on spinning a successful stint as a high school athlete into a future in pro sports (the best of a very limited choice of options for a lot of 5th Ward young men). He had trouble holding a job throughout most of his life. He struggled with various forms of addiction. He was a low-level drug peddler to help make money to support his family. The serious drug dealers thought he was pretty bad at it, so he was never part of any organized drug gang. He just didn't have the temperament of a criminal, they thought.
But another big part of that missed potential had to do with being a young black man in Houston, TX. The accepted wisdom is that there have always been a lot of police in Houston's 5th Ward because there is a lot of crime. But decades of sociological analysis reveals that it's the other way around. There's a lot of crime because there are a lot of police. And in Houston, particularly, those police had quotas, so they were picking people up left or right and letting the system sort them out. Did George Floyd ever break a law? He absolutely did, multiple times. But the number of times Floyd was arrested and then released because he didn't actually do anything is pretty telling. Samuels and Olorunnipa use George Floyd's life as a case study, of sorts, to explore the systematic racism that stacks the deck against kids like George Floyd before they can even get a foot in the door.
For example, did you know that in the 80s and 90s, during the crack epidemic that ravaged poor black communities, funding for law enforcement and prisons skyrocketed, even though the communities were pleading for more funding for mental health and addiction treatment programs? Their pleas fell on deaf ears. So, naturally, in the 2010s, during the opioid epidemic that ravaged poor white communities, funding for mental health and addiction treatment skyrocketed. Texas is a particularly bad case. The main reason Floyd was even in Minnesota was because there he had access to addiction-treatment programs that Texas explicitly under-funded or limited access to, because Conservative Texans think drug addiction makes you evil and not worthy of help, only punishment. There was a whole community of Houston refugees in Minnesota trying desperate to get the help that Texas stingily refused to offer. So Floyd's life circumstances played a much larger role in his criminal history than his innate personality ever did.
But the authors attempt to take an honest look at both aspects. You definitely don't come away from the story thinking George Floyd is an angel. You don't feel like putting him on a pedestal. You're disappointed in him when he makes bad decisions, but you sympathize with him because there but for the grace of God go I.
George Floyd is evil because he threatened a pregnant woman with a gun.
So, first of all, no he didn't. Leaving aside the fact that Arecely Henriquez was not pregnant (that was a detail invented by Conservative Media Pundits to make George Floyd's death seem more deserving), Ms. Henriquez stated to the police and to the authors of this book that she could not confidently name Floyd as the man in her house with the gun.
Was George Floyd involved in the incident? Yes he was. The likely scenario (pieced together from interviews from witnesses and Floyd confidants) was that Floyd was asked to be the driver in a robbery scheme where one group of guys decided to rob the house of a drug dealer to steal a stash of cash. Floyd borrowed his girlfriend's car, and then they ended up at the wrong house. After poor Ms. Henriquez was assaulted, they escaped, but not before a neighbor got the license plate number. The police had no leads for a few months, until Floyd was caught, still driving the same car. As he refused to name any of the other assailants, he was the sole person charged with the crime, and since there was enough evidence to place him at the scene, he would almost certainly lose if he tried to fight in court. The sentence would likely have been twenty years or more in prison. His lawyer convinced him to sign a plea deal for five. So George Floyd probably admitted to a crime he didn't commit (the assault) in exchange for 15 years of freedom. As with a lot of things in the lives of Floyd and other 5th Ward denizens, it seemed like the best of a lot of bad options.
George Floyd doesn't deserve to have a book written about him.
I kind of object to this on principal. I think every human being who has ever lived has a story to tell, and George Floyd was just as human as the rest of us. But in the broader sense, Samuels and Ororunnipa didn't just go out and chose some random guy to write a book about. George Floyd didn't ask to become the focal point of the biggest civil-rights event of the 21st Century. With as much progress and awareness that has arisen from his tragic death, Floyd's family and friends would probably trade it all in to have him back on Earth, still trying to make something of his life.
George Floyd, by an awful confluence of event, was just in the right/wrong place at the right/wrong time to spark a national outrage that was perfectly timed to give a glimmer of hope for a long-sought victory in the modern civil rights movement. You needed a policeman who was a bit too in love with a dangerous restraint method who behaves transparently badly in front of lots of witnesses. You needed one of the bystanders to be a trained martial artist who recognized and pointed out to the cop the inherent risks of that restraint method. You needed one of the bystanders to be a trained EMT who recognized and pointed out to the cop that Floyd was struggling to breathe and then became unconscious. You needed several people recording all this from multiple angles, including video of Derick Chauvin acknowledging but otherwise ignoring their warnings. You needed a mayor and a governor who were willing to take the side of the victim. You needed the pent up tensions resulting from the Quarantine that fueled activist fervor. The lead council against Derick Chauvin stated his amazement that in spite of the overwhelming evidence, the truly disgusting history of cops being let off the hook for murdering innocent people left his team in doubt about the final verdict until it was actually read. That guilty verdict was truly a seminal moment in civil rights history, and telling George Floyd's story is a key element in exploring and analyzing that moment.
George Floyd's girlfriend at the time of his death, Courtney Ross, discusses a key point in the aftermath of the tragedy. She points out that there came a moment where there were two George Floyds. There was the man she knew. The gentle lunkhead who did his best to overcome his demons, though he wasn't always successful. The son, the brother, the father. But then there was born George Floyd the icon. Not George the saint. But George they symbol. His death became a rallying cry for change, and ultimately led to a small but loud victory in the form of a once unthinkable guilty verdict against a white cop who pointlessly killed a black man. That's an important story that definitely deserved to be told.
We didn't need all the liberal politics in the last section of the book.
This point is more debatable, but in general, the political landscape surrounding the Derick Chauvin trial is just as important a part of the tale as Floyd's life.
Is the book politically biased? Only insofar as it depicts Republicans constantly resisting any kinds of laws or policies that actually help poor black communities or make police more accountable. Only insofar as it depicts Conservatives advocating that the answer to crime is more prisons and more police. Only insofar as as it reported George Floyd's family's unimpressed feelings toward President Trump's limp response, and the warmth and genuine concern they felt from President Biden.
But the authors don't shy away from blaming both parties for the 'Tough On Crime' mantra that poured gasoline on the drug and crime fires of the 80s and 90s. They don't shy away from the problematic rhetorical ambiguity of the "Defund the Police" slogan, and how it was commandeered by a wide variety of activists for a lot of different purposes. Or how some activists crossed lines with their destructive protests and unrealistic demands of a system and culture not prepared to execute instantaneous paradigm shifts. Some of these activists are presented such that you can sympathize with their goals, but it never insists you agree with their methods, and how they often did more harm than good.
So, no, I don't think the book was too political. The politics is a key part of why things are the way they are, and why they are so hard to change.
In the end...
If you're a racist troll who isn't even going to read the book, feel free to go yell at your made-up boogie man. And keep on putting your easily falsifiable claims in writing so it is clear that you haven't read the book and have an 'opinion' that can be readily dismissed.
If you're genuinely interested in educating yourself about the actual details of the life and death of George Floyd, and why his story is such an important cultural milestone, you honestly won't find a more thoroughly researched, more informative, and more readable account.
And go 'like' the highest-rated 5-star reviews so they can get those top spots. They're way more representative of the attitudes of people who've actually read the book, and deserve to be there.
February 11, 2022
This immersive, readable, relatable, hopeful and brilliantly researched biography deserves far more than 5 stars.
I wanted to read it from the moment it was available, while also wondering if it would carry the same needed depth as Dr. Kendi's How to Be an Antiracist. Yes, it also carries essential heartwrenching reflections and arresting honesty - but its storytelling is built with generosity - a narrative that deftly speaks of life, legacy, and the grander historical impact!
Stemming from its brilliantly awarded superstars, they are perfectly primed to write this book. Interviewing thousands, they keenly illustrate George Floyd's life three generations deep, and countless people who knew Floyd, wide. By the time George was brutally murdered, within the narrative, you see him simply as the human he was.
And even more deftly felt - that anyone who'd grown up in his world could have come to the same fate, due to our society's generational oppression toward people of color.
This book is a compulsive page-turner; learning about his understood youthful pressures in high school to perform athletically but not supported academically. After being met with little support thereafter, fighting for his sobriety, he still strived to support his family and friends. As a father, who'd do anything for his family, and as a teddy bear with crippling claustrophobia.
Samuels and Olorunnipa have given us an evergreen biography as easy to read, as it feels necessary to discuss.
Galley borrowed from the publisher.
I wanted to read it from the moment it was available, while also wondering if it would carry the same needed depth as Dr. Kendi's How to Be an Antiracist. Yes, it also carries essential heartwrenching reflections and arresting honesty - but its storytelling is built with generosity - a narrative that deftly speaks of life, legacy, and the grander historical impact!
Stemming from its brilliantly awarded superstars, they are perfectly primed to write this book. Interviewing thousands, they keenly illustrate George Floyd's life three generations deep, and countless people who knew Floyd, wide. By the time George was brutally murdered, within the narrative, you see him simply as the human he was.
And even more deftly felt - that anyone who'd grown up in his world could have come to the same fate, due to our society's generational oppression toward people of color.
This book is a compulsive page-turner; learning about his understood youthful pressures in high school to perform athletically but not supported academically. After being met with little support thereafter, fighting for his sobriety, he still strived to support his family and friends. As a father, who'd do anything for his family, and as a teddy bear with crippling claustrophobia.
Samuels and Olorunnipa have given us an evergreen biography as easy to read, as it feels necessary to discuss.
Galley borrowed from the publisher.
May 19, 2022
Someday soon I will process how I feel about this book. I have so many emotions and thoughts. For now let me say I will be pressing this book into all of your hands. I now consider this to be required reading.
Update:. This book humanizes the icon. It explores his dreams, his mistakes, and tries to understand the complexities of his soul.
Simultaneously, Samuels and Olorinnipa take this deeply human man, and paint the picture of the insidious ways overt and systemic racism, the war on Poverty, the war on drugs, and even covid, robbed Floyd of the ability to become the person he wanted to be.
The book reads like a case study and a memorial. Well worth reading.
Update:. This book humanizes the icon. It explores his dreams, his mistakes, and tries to understand the complexities of his soul.
Simultaneously, Samuels and Olorinnipa take this deeply human man, and paint the picture of the insidious ways overt and systemic racism, the war on Poverty, the war on drugs, and even covid, robbed Floyd of the ability to become the person he wanted to be.
The book reads like a case study and a memorial. Well worth reading.
November 16, 2022
I really wanted to assign 1 star for the premise of another act of trying to turn a martyred man into an angelic saint beyond an obligatory dust over of his vices and behaviors. This work is scripted with an agenda in mind; but then again, most books and other media forms share that in common.
Well researched; yes. Well edited (technically); yes. Accurate depiction; highly debatable.
Candidly, if I had not been given a free copy, I doubt I would have considered picking up a copy. I have no regrets having read the book; I make it a habit of reading material across the spectrum of an issue in order to gain perspective of those with whom I may disagree, as well as challenge and perhaps refine my own perspectives. It doesn't replace civil debate and discussion. But it is a sound tool given a growing number are closed-minded, more interested in shouting the loudest from their echo chambers than breathing calmly and discussing differences.
Anyway, 2 stars to recognize the work of the authors and care with editing.
Well researched; yes. Well edited (technically); yes. Accurate depiction; highly debatable.
Candidly, if I had not been given a free copy, I doubt I would have considered picking up a copy. I have no regrets having read the book; I make it a habit of reading material across the spectrum of an issue in order to gain perspective of those with whom I may disagree, as well as challenge and perhaps refine my own perspectives. It doesn't replace civil debate and discussion. But it is a sound tool given a growing number are closed-minded, more interested in shouting the loudest from their echo chambers than breathing calmly and discussing differences.
Anyway, 2 stars to recognize the work of the authors and care with editing.
June 12, 2022
I'm genuinely torn on this one. On the one hand, the majority of the book is a thoughtful examination into the life of George Floyd. He was a man oozing charisma and athletic potential, but could not overcome his vices, and found himself on the receiving end of one of the most tragic police encounters ever seen. The book does an excellent job showing his strengths and weaknesses and what led him to that Minneapolis corner that day.
I was largely enjoying it...until the latter 100 pages get hijacked by a more politically tinged tone. Trump and the GOP are depicted as being unsympathetic of the movement, while Biden and the Dems are shown as compassionate and sympathetic. This is especially frustrating because the book earlier explains Biden's role in crafting the 1994 Crime Bill. A piece of legislation he still expresses pride in and one that has a greater role in what happen to Mr. Floyd than a Trump photo-op.
Both parties are responsible for the over policing in black communities. When the author brings political bias into her commentary, she undermines the true nature of the problem. Overall, solid read but the last 100 pages really left a bad taste in my mouth.
I was largely enjoying it...until the latter 100 pages get hijacked by a more politically tinged tone. Trump and the GOP are depicted as being unsympathetic of the movement, while Biden and the Dems are shown as compassionate and sympathetic. This is especially frustrating because the book earlier explains Biden's role in crafting the 1994 Crime Bill. A piece of legislation he still expresses pride in and one that has a greater role in what happen to Mr. Floyd than a Trump photo-op.
Both parties are responsible for the over policing in black communities. When the author brings political bias into her commentary, she undermines the true nature of the problem. Overall, solid read but the last 100 pages really left a bad taste in my mouth.
February 21, 2024
4.5 // This is more than a biography of George Floyd. His life, death, and legacy are also used as symbols in order to thoroughly explore racial disparities and police brutality in America. It goes deep, hard, and expansive.
This book struck every nerve in me: reinforced things I already knew, shocked me with stuff I was in the dark about, put things in entirely different perspectives. (e.g. I was disturbed to find out that placing knees on suspects’ necks was a protocol encouraged in the police department; and the reasoning behind this made my brain explode).
The book doesn’t paint Floyd as a saint, sinner or martyr. It’s an honest portrait while also demonstrating the various ways society may have failed him. And of America’s racialized hangups.
~Full review coming sometime.
This book struck every nerve in me: reinforced things I already knew, shocked me with stuff I was in the dark about, put things in entirely different perspectives. (e.g. I was disturbed to find out that placing knees on suspects’ necks was a protocol encouraged in the police department; and the reasoning behind this made my brain explode).
The book doesn’t paint Floyd as a saint, sinner or martyr. It’s an honest portrait while also demonstrating the various ways society may have failed him. And of America’s racialized hangups.
~Full review coming sometime.
March 27, 2023
His Name Is George Floyd is described as “A landmark biography by two prizewinning Washington Post reporters that reveals how systemic racism shaped George Floyd's life and legacy—from his family’s roots in the tobacco fields of North Carolina, to ongoing inequality in housing, education, health care, criminal justice, and policing—telling the story of how one man’s tragic experience brought about a global movement for change.” And, it’s a must read.
George Floyd grew up in Houston, TX. He was athletic and played football. He didn’t have it easy, his family struggled with poverty. George was constantly in search of a better life. He struggled with addiction and claustrophobia. He was friendly. He became a father, and eventually decided to try life in Minnesota after hearing good things from people he knew who had moved there.
On May 25, 2020, a Black man was robbed of his life, wrongfully and too early by yet another POS, power tripping cop in a broken justice system perpetuating systemic racism. And we’ve seen it happen again, still since this tragedy.
Fortunately there isn’t too much time/ space spent on Chauvin in the book, though I appreciate that the authors covered his background factually while primarily highlighting that he was a bad cop and problematic before he was a murderer. The stats on the number of PD complaints investigated vs the total number of complaints made were stark, though not surprising. While MN was highlighted here, this is a pervasive issue not limited to one city/ state.
I listened to the audiobook of His Name Is George Floyd, narrated by Dion Graham, who did an excellent job as always. It was difficult listening to the chapter about George Floyd’s last day — I cannot fathom what he experienced and of course, no one should have to. While George’s death gave pause to many people and sparked much-needed, long overdue conversation, beyond the murals and the memories, the US is still screaming for change.
George Floyd grew up in Houston, TX. He was athletic and played football. He didn’t have it easy, his family struggled with poverty. George was constantly in search of a better life. He struggled with addiction and claustrophobia. He was friendly. He became a father, and eventually decided to try life in Minnesota after hearing good things from people he knew who had moved there.
On May 25, 2020, a Black man was robbed of his life, wrongfully and too early by yet another POS, power tripping cop in a broken justice system perpetuating systemic racism. And we’ve seen it happen again, still since this tragedy.
Fortunately there isn’t too much time/ space spent on Chauvin in the book, though I appreciate that the authors covered his background factually while primarily highlighting that he was a bad cop and problematic before he was a murderer. The stats on the number of PD complaints investigated vs the total number of complaints made were stark, though not surprising. While MN was highlighted here, this is a pervasive issue not limited to one city/ state.
I listened to the audiobook of His Name Is George Floyd, narrated by Dion Graham, who did an excellent job as always. It was difficult listening to the chapter about George Floyd’s last day — I cannot fathom what he experienced and of course, no one should have to. While George’s death gave pause to many people and sparked much-needed, long overdue conversation, beyond the murals and the memories, the US is still screaming for change.
May 17, 2022
“But George Floyd is a movement. And his name speaks for everyone who has been affected by police violence!”
Almost two years ago, on May 25, 2020, George Floyd was murdered, and his death sparked a movement within a greater community. Just days ago, a white man drove three hours from Binghamton to Buffalo and murdered ten people out of a belief in white supremacy. When this title says “…and the Struggle for Racial Justice,” it means that racism is still here, and education is still necessary. And that’s what this book does: educates through George Floyd’s life, lineage, and legacy, interwoven with laws, statistics, and real-life examples of Black people being pushed down by an oppressive system again and again. But this book also shares the hope that is still there for future change, despite a system that somehow didn’t flag Derek Chauvin and his long-standing record of overly aggressive behavior, leading to Floyd’s death.
This is so well done and well put together - I loved that while learning history and current laws and statistics, I was also reading the multi-generational story of George Floyd’s family. It’s one thing to read about historical events that happened in general, and another to see how one very real family was personally affected over decades. I can’t remember a time I’ve ever stayed up way too far into the night to finish a non-fiction book, but WOW this book had me hooked. Absolutely incredible and going on the antiracism “required reading” list.
Thank you to Books Forward PR and Viking Books for the copy of this ARC.
Almost two years ago, on May 25, 2020, George Floyd was murdered, and his death sparked a movement within a greater community. Just days ago, a white man drove three hours from Binghamton to Buffalo and murdered ten people out of a belief in white supremacy. When this title says “…and the Struggle for Racial Justice,” it means that racism is still here, and education is still necessary. And that’s what this book does: educates through George Floyd’s life, lineage, and legacy, interwoven with laws, statistics, and real-life examples of Black people being pushed down by an oppressive system again and again. But this book also shares the hope that is still there for future change, despite a system that somehow didn’t flag Derek Chauvin and his long-standing record of overly aggressive behavior, leading to Floyd’s death.
This is so well done and well put together - I loved that while learning history and current laws and statistics, I was also reading the multi-generational story of George Floyd’s family. It’s one thing to read about historical events that happened in general, and another to see how one very real family was personally affected over decades. I can’t remember a time I’ve ever stayed up way too far into the night to finish a non-fiction book, but WOW this book had me hooked. Absolutely incredible and going on the antiracism “required reading” list.
Thank you to Books Forward PR and Viking Books for the copy of this ARC.
June 6, 2022
His Name Is George Floyd: One Man's Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice
by Robert Samuels & Toluse Olorunnipa
Published May 17th 2022
~I AM GOING TO TAKE A MENTAL HEALTH BREAK BEFORE GIVING MY REVIEW ON THIS #PSA #AUDIOBOOK. #STAYTUNE
❤ So I waited to write my review AND I set my ALEXA to a 5 minute timer to give me a #headups and not turn this into one of my college term papers of yesteryear. I have never heard or seen the George Floyd murder but let me tell you--listening to this audiobook gave me a front row seat. Like many of the traumatized people that witnessed that modern day #lynching on that day, I too was traumatized. It literally gave me chills to listen to the description and the re-enactment of his murder. I thought the chills were in my mind until it happened again the next day when I continued to listen. I cried both days.
I too did silent protest with fellow activists at neighborhood police precincts here in The Bronx protesting yet another murder by a Police Officer. I have gotten calls while away at Grad School when my little brother and his friend were arrested for being accused by a kid who claimed they stolen his backpack. They released them without me having to travel back to NYC when the accuser could not get his story straight. My little brother was a pre-teen and is now engaged and in his 30s.
I have another baby brother who was #raciallyprofiled on a schedule. Before he would leave the house, he would look at his watch and say yeah, "its about that time." He has never wore hoodies and or pants sagging below his waist and yet he was running across the street before the light changed and was stopped by the PoPo because he was running while Black in the middle of the afternoon, they told him he looked suspicious running across the street. His key ring at the time (as a teen) was one of those GIANT COMICAL CLOWN LOOKING SAFETY PINS; the police took that safety pin off his keys and told him it was a weapon. That other little brother is now in his 40s and is very deliberate on how his one and only son dresses. He is also very active with the local police department and volunteering with them and his son within their area. I suspect its an subconscious way to lessen the likelihood that he or his son would have a run in with the police.
I had the PoPo come to my door with an attitude because the dispatcher sent him to the wrong apartment. He got funky and I got funky right back. I was a little offended that a white man who I can breast feed standing up was getting funky when it was their dispatcher that made the error. I wish I had a bodycam to record the shift in his demeanor, mannerisms and speech when I dare to respond to his accusation. I was too pissed off to be fearful of a man so little despite his gun.
I had the PoPo knock on my door when I was getting ready to rise to take my morning commute to Wall Street. There were at least 3 plain clothes officers when I looked out my peep hole and several more when I opened my door that were waiting to take into custody a man on the run who apparently gave them my address as his fake address. I was shown the picture and told them if they wanted to know if he ever lived here you need to go to the Super's house because I never seen him. I was/am divorced and very single so I was sure they were not on a stake out and saw any Black Man coming to and from my home. That officer was Black, I often wondered would I have been six feet under if that officer was white. What if I had already left for work, would they have broke down my door and entered? I used to work at a police precinct and had choice words with some abusive cops when I over heard their conversations. I was a teenager and had no idea how many decades I had to look forward to within a #systemicracism saturated society.
I have other stories --both good and bad as it relates to the Policing of Black America but I need to get to YOGA class. This should be a book for the school curriculum. The journalists did excellent research and interviews about policing within Black America. I had to reset my timer at least 5 times. I am going to stop now. You and everyone you know needs to read/listen this book and SAY THEIR NAMES. ❤
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The events of that day are now tragically familiar: on May 25, 2020, George Floyd became the latest Black person to die at the hands of the police, murdered outside of a Minneapolis convenience store by white officer Derek Chauvin. The video recording of his death set off a series of protests in the United States and around the world, awakening millions to the dire need for reimagining this country’s broken systems of policing. But behind a face that would be graffitied onto countless murals, and a name that has become synonymous with civil rights, there is the reality of one man’s stolen life: a life beset by suffocating systemic pressures that ultimately proved inescapable.
This biography of George Floyd shows the athletic young boy raised in the projects of Houston’s Third Ward who would become a father, a partner, a friend, and a man constantly in search of a better life. In retracing Floyd’s story, Washington Post reporters Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa bring to light the determination Floyd carried as he faced the relentless struggle to survive as a Black man in America. Placing his narrative within the larger context of America’s deeply troubled history of institutional racism, His Name Is George Floyd examines the Floyd family’s roots in slavery and sharecropping, the segregation of his Houston schools, the overpolicing of his communities, the devastating snares of the prison system, and his attempts to break free from drug dependence—putting today's inequality into uniquely human terms. Drawing upon hundreds of interviews and extensive original reporting, Samuels and Olorunnipa offer a poignant and moving exploration of George Floyd’s America, revealing how a man who simply wanted to breathe ended up touching the world.
by Robert Samuels & Toluse Olorunnipa
Published May 17th 2022
~I AM GOING TO TAKE A MENTAL HEALTH BREAK BEFORE GIVING MY REVIEW ON THIS #PSA #AUDIOBOOK. #STAYTUNE
❤ So I waited to write my review AND I set my ALEXA to a 5 minute timer to give me a #headups and not turn this into one of my college term papers of yesteryear. I have never heard or seen the George Floyd murder but let me tell you--listening to this audiobook gave me a front row seat. Like many of the traumatized people that witnessed that modern day #lynching on that day, I too was traumatized. It literally gave me chills to listen to the description and the re-enactment of his murder. I thought the chills were in my mind until it happened again the next day when I continued to listen. I cried both days.
I too did silent protest with fellow activists at neighborhood police precincts here in The Bronx protesting yet another murder by a Police Officer. I have gotten calls while away at Grad School when my little brother and his friend were arrested for being accused by a kid who claimed they stolen his backpack. They released them without me having to travel back to NYC when the accuser could not get his story straight. My little brother was a pre-teen and is now engaged and in his 30s.
I have another baby brother who was #raciallyprofiled on a schedule. Before he would leave the house, he would look at his watch and say yeah, "its about that time." He has never wore hoodies and or pants sagging below his waist and yet he was running across the street before the light changed and was stopped by the PoPo because he was running while Black in the middle of the afternoon, they told him he looked suspicious running across the street. His key ring at the time (as a teen) was one of those GIANT COMICAL CLOWN LOOKING SAFETY PINS; the police took that safety pin off his keys and told him it was a weapon. That other little brother is now in his 40s and is very deliberate on how his one and only son dresses. He is also very active with the local police department and volunteering with them and his son within their area. I suspect its an subconscious way to lessen the likelihood that he or his son would have a run in with the police.
I had the PoPo come to my door with an attitude because the dispatcher sent him to the wrong apartment. He got funky and I got funky right back. I was a little offended that a white man who I can breast feed standing up was getting funky when it was their dispatcher that made the error. I wish I had a bodycam to record the shift in his demeanor, mannerisms and speech when I dare to respond to his accusation. I was too pissed off to be fearful of a man so little despite his gun.
I had the PoPo knock on my door when I was getting ready to rise to take my morning commute to Wall Street. There were at least 3 plain clothes officers when I looked out my peep hole and several more when I opened my door that were waiting to take into custody a man on the run who apparently gave them my address as his fake address. I was shown the picture and told them if they wanted to know if he ever lived here you need to go to the Super's house because I never seen him. I was/am divorced and very single so I was sure they were not on a stake out and saw any Black Man coming to and from my home. That officer was Black, I often wondered would I have been six feet under if that officer was white. What if I had already left for work, would they have broke down my door and entered? I used to work at a police precinct and had choice words with some abusive cops when I over heard their conversations. I was a teenager and had no idea how many decades I had to look forward to within a #systemicracism saturated society.
I have other stories --both good and bad as it relates to the Policing of Black America but I need to get to YOGA class. This should be a book for the school curriculum. The journalists did excellent research and interviews about policing within Black America. I had to reset my timer at least 5 times. I am going to stop now. You and everyone you know needs to read/listen this book and SAY THEIR NAMES. ❤
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The events of that day are now tragically familiar: on May 25, 2020, George Floyd became the latest Black person to die at the hands of the police, murdered outside of a Minneapolis convenience store by white officer Derek Chauvin. The video recording of his death set off a series of protests in the United States and around the world, awakening millions to the dire need for reimagining this country’s broken systems of policing. But behind a face that would be graffitied onto countless murals, and a name that has become synonymous with civil rights, there is the reality of one man’s stolen life: a life beset by suffocating systemic pressures that ultimately proved inescapable.
This biography of George Floyd shows the athletic young boy raised in the projects of Houston’s Third Ward who would become a father, a partner, a friend, and a man constantly in search of a better life. In retracing Floyd’s story, Washington Post reporters Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa bring to light the determination Floyd carried as he faced the relentless struggle to survive as a Black man in America. Placing his narrative within the larger context of America’s deeply troubled history of institutional racism, His Name Is George Floyd examines the Floyd family’s roots in slavery and sharecropping, the segregation of his Houston schools, the overpolicing of his communities, the devastating snares of the prison system, and his attempts to break free from drug dependence—putting today's inequality into uniquely human terms. Drawing upon hundreds of interviews and extensive original reporting, Samuels and Olorunnipa offer a poignant and moving exploration of George Floyd’s America, revealing how a man who simply wanted to breathe ended up touching the world.
March 15, 2023
I initially steered clear of His Name Is George Floyd because I didn’t want to re-experience his death. But the climate has changed so much since then. What appeared to be the start of real reform slipped instead into a racial backlash. I’m old enough to have seen this pattern before, but for a split second, I, too, was swept up in the kumbaya moment of “racial healing.” I came back to my senses rather quickly. Now I realize we live in a perpetual state of overlapping racial backlash.
I digress. The authors, Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa, accomplish something masterful: They combine a biography of George Floyd (known as Perry by his family and friends) with a carefully paced depiction of historical moments that intersected with his life. They even introduce us to his enslaved ancestors, building out from there to arrive at the present-day places and events of George Floyd’s life. The result is a story of a fully formed human being, one the media and conservative America finally wrote off as just another thug who deserved to be executed because of past transgressions. Black victims must be “angels” before they get an ounce of sympathy from America.
What’s clear is that George Floyd was well aware of who he was and how he was perceived. He knew his shortcomings and failings. He suffered from depression, claustrophobia, and anxiety. He used drugs to self-medicate. He was sensitive and prone to tears. He loved deeply and was deeply loved in return. He was tender and infuriating. When George Floyd stumbled, which happened a lot, there was no shortage of people stepping up to guide and advise. No one ever gave up on him because he never gave up on others. America doesn’t like their black people complicated. They only see them as stereotypes.
The story of how he migrated from Houston to Minneapolis was especially poignant, and it’s the American story too. Just like Europeans who came to America, he was escaping Houston to start his life anew. And the network of people involved in his move was lovely to behold. Along the way, we meet counselors, activists, family members, teachers, ministers, social service workers, and a host of others in his orbit who became part of a larger movement.
We all know how his story ends. But we may not know how history, public policy, and racism shaped the world he inhabited.
I digress. The authors, Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa, accomplish something masterful: They combine a biography of George Floyd (known as Perry by his family and friends) with a carefully paced depiction of historical moments that intersected with his life. They even introduce us to his enslaved ancestors, building out from there to arrive at the present-day places and events of George Floyd’s life. The result is a story of a fully formed human being, one the media and conservative America finally wrote off as just another thug who deserved to be executed because of past transgressions. Black victims must be “angels” before they get an ounce of sympathy from America.
What’s clear is that George Floyd was well aware of who he was and how he was perceived. He knew his shortcomings and failings. He suffered from depression, claustrophobia, and anxiety. He used drugs to self-medicate. He was sensitive and prone to tears. He loved deeply and was deeply loved in return. He was tender and infuriating. When George Floyd stumbled, which happened a lot, there was no shortage of people stepping up to guide and advise. No one ever gave up on him because he never gave up on others. America doesn’t like their black people complicated. They only see them as stereotypes.
The story of how he migrated from Houston to Minneapolis was especially poignant, and it’s the American story too. Just like Europeans who came to America, he was escaping Houston to start his life anew. And the network of people involved in his move was lovely to behold. Along the way, we meet counselors, activists, family members, teachers, ministers, social service workers, and a host of others in his orbit who became part of a larger movement.
We all know how his story ends. But we may not know how history, public policy, and racism shaped the world he inhabited.
December 21, 2022
It’s taken me a while to write this. I understand prejudice. I am the blonde haired blue eyed product of a mixed race /language marriage
I don’t understand why a criminal has been martyred, there are so many better people this could have been about.
I don’t understand why a criminal has been martyred, there are so many better people this could have been about.
September 11, 2024
A very intense book describing George Floyd’s life starting from his ancestors to his death and finally his trial against police officer Chauvin.
This book is not only telling of a life that could have not ended in tragedy but a systematic and deliberate racism against black and brown women and especially men. “It’s hard to be a black man in America”, wrote the authors in many occasions.
Floyd’s brother spoke to a crowd… “The bold eagle symbolizes freedom. So if can’t walk to the store -George Floyd- or jog -Ahmaud Arbery- or sleep in the comfort of my own house -Breonna Taylor- or eat ice cream on my couch- Botham Jean- what can I do? Where can I live? How can I be the person I want to be?
His words were so powerful, it brought tears into my eyes.
Yes, George Floyd had a criminal past and suffered from addiction however no one deserves to die the way he did. No one should be begging for their life under a knee!
A very informative and compelling read. I would highly recommend it.
Enjoy 🍷
This book is not only telling of a life that could have not ended in tragedy but a systematic and deliberate racism against black and brown women and especially men. “It’s hard to be a black man in America”, wrote the authors in many occasions.
Floyd’s brother spoke to a crowd… “The bold eagle symbolizes freedom. So if can’t walk to the store -George Floyd- or jog -Ahmaud Arbery- or sleep in the comfort of my own house -Breonna Taylor- or eat ice cream on my couch- Botham Jean- what can I do? Where can I live? How can I be the person I want to be?
His words were so powerful, it brought tears into my eyes.
Yes, George Floyd had a criminal past and suffered from addiction however no one deserves to die the way he did. No one should be begging for their life under a knee!
A very informative and compelling read. I would highly recommend it.
Enjoy 🍷
December 20, 2023
His Name is George Floyd: One Man's Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice by Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa tells the story of the African American's murder in the broader context of systemic racism.
The authors conducted hours of interviews with Floyd's relatives and friends, as well as civil rights activists, to compile a comprehensive, almost 500-page-long research. They crafted an unusual biography because it is simultaneously highly personal and generally objective. What set me off at the beginning was the sugary sentimentality: readers jump from the murder itself to the way George Floyd kicked in his mother's womb in the span of the first 5-7 pages. The later narrative fixes this defect, effectively balancing historical excepts with George Floyd's life story, and the precise, minute-by-minute murder description doesn't seem out of hand.
The contrast between White America and Black America is so stunning that it's hard to comprehend we are talking about the same country. Floyd's ancestors became the wealthiest African Americans in North Carolina - to lose everything due to deliberate forgery from their White counterparts. While White Americans enjoyed the boom of the 1960s, prisoners - and mainly prisoners of color - still worked unpaid and undernourished in private prisons. In the 21st century, George Floyd didn't get any salary for his work in a prison, as if nothing had changed.
While His Name is George Floyd became a bestseller right away, some stories about police brutality against African Americans have stayed on the margins. In 2009, Anthonii Sanders didn't die when police officers threw him to the ground, tased him multiple times, and broke his bones. Instead, he had been dying slowly, physically, emotionally, and psychologically, for five years. His widow had written a heart-touching memoir, which I had the honor to read in 2023 (and which didn't get enough attention because it shares the title with another book). My review is here.
(I obtained my edition, with white letters on the black cover, from a local library. Since the book was on the new arrival's shelf, I assume I was the first to pick it up. Unfortunately, toward the book's ending, the pages have started to fall apart along the spine. Of course, it has nothing to do with the context but the cover's quality. Be aware and do not buy a used copy.)
The authors conducted hours of interviews with Floyd's relatives and friends, as well as civil rights activists, to compile a comprehensive, almost 500-page-long research. They crafted an unusual biography because it is simultaneously highly personal and generally objective. What set me off at the beginning was the sugary sentimentality: readers jump from the murder itself to the way George Floyd kicked in his mother's womb in the span of the first 5-7 pages. The later narrative fixes this defect, effectively balancing historical excepts with George Floyd's life story, and the precise, minute-by-minute murder description doesn't seem out of hand.
The contrast between White America and Black America is so stunning that it's hard to comprehend we are talking about the same country. Floyd's ancestors became the wealthiest African Americans in North Carolina - to lose everything due to deliberate forgery from their White counterparts. While White Americans enjoyed the boom of the 1960s, prisoners - and mainly prisoners of color - still worked unpaid and undernourished in private prisons. In the 21st century, George Floyd didn't get any salary for his work in a prison, as if nothing had changed.
While His Name is George Floyd became a bestseller right away, some stories about police brutality against African Americans have stayed on the margins. In 2009, Anthonii Sanders didn't die when police officers threw him to the ground, tased him multiple times, and broke his bones. Instead, he had been dying slowly, physically, emotionally, and psychologically, for five years. His widow had written a heart-touching memoir, which I had the honor to read in 2023 (and which didn't get enough attention because it shares the title with another book). My review is here.
(I obtained my edition, with white letters on the black cover, from a local library. Since the book was on the new arrival's shelf, I assume I was the first to pick it up. Unfortunately, toward the book's ending, the pages have started to fall apart along the spine. Of course, it has nothing to do with the context but the cover's quality. Be aware and do not buy a used copy.)
February 9, 2025
4.5 ⭐️: In an effort to be less ignorant, I read this book and thoroughly enjoyed it. As for the book and George’s story, I think two things can be true at once: you can have your own personal battles/flaws AND still be an important figure for social injustices.
August 13, 2022
It is a testament to the power of His Name Is George Floyd that the book’s most vital moments come not after Floyd’s death, but in its intimate, unvarnished and scrupulous account of his life ... a brilliantly revealing portrait of the structures of poverty, land theft and racism that shaped not only Floyd but also his kinship networks in the South ... does an impressive job of contextualizing Floyd’s struggles with drug addiction, frequent arrests and afive-year prison sentence for aggravated robbery in a crime that he insisted he had nothing to do with.
Throughout, we get the portrait of a flawed man trying to come to terms with diminished dreams, one whose muscular physical exterior hid a gentle soul who battled pain, anxiety, claustrophobia and depression ... Samuels and Olorunnipa take pains to offer capsule histories of the structural roots of racism in the criminal justice and education systems — with their impact on wealth and homeownership — to better tell Floyd’s story holistically. This does not always make for a seamless narrative, but in many ways the book is stronger for it ... By focusing on the disparate parts of the system of structural racism that impacted Floyd’s life, the authors allow readers to better comprehend and experience the final indignity that greeted him on May 25, when Chauvin, an officer with a history of brutalizing suspects, casually ended his life
His Name Is George Floyd tells the story of a beloved figure from Houston''s housing projects as he faced the stifling systemic pressures that come with being a Black man in America. Placing his narrative within the context of the country''s enduring legacy of institutional racism, this deeply reported account examines Floyd''s family roots in slavery and sharecropping, the segregation of his schools, the overpolicing of his community amid a wave of mass incarceration, and the callous disregard toward his struggle with addiction—putting today''s inequality into uniquely human terms. Drawing upon hundreds of interviews with Floyd''s closest friends and family, his elementary school teachers and varsity coaches, civil rights icons, and those in the highest seats of political power, Washington Post reporters Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa offer a poignant and moving exploration of George Floyd’s America, revealing how a man who simply wanted to breathe ended up touching the world
Throughout, we get the portrait of a flawed man trying to come to terms with diminished dreams, one whose muscular physical exterior hid a gentle soul who battled pain, anxiety, claustrophobia and depression ... Samuels and Olorunnipa take pains to offer capsule histories of the structural roots of racism in the criminal justice and education systems — with their impact on wealth and homeownership — to better tell Floyd’s story holistically. This does not always make for a seamless narrative, but in many ways the book is stronger for it ... By focusing on the disparate parts of the system of structural racism that impacted Floyd’s life, the authors allow readers to better comprehend and experience the final indignity that greeted him on May 25, when Chauvin, an officer with a history of brutalizing suspects, casually ended his life
His Name Is George Floyd tells the story of a beloved figure from Houston''s housing projects as he faced the stifling systemic pressures that come with being a Black man in America. Placing his narrative within the context of the country''s enduring legacy of institutional racism, this deeply reported account examines Floyd''s family roots in slavery and sharecropping, the segregation of his schools, the overpolicing of his community amid a wave of mass incarceration, and the callous disregard toward his struggle with addiction—putting today''s inequality into uniquely human terms. Drawing upon hundreds of interviews with Floyd''s closest friends and family, his elementary school teachers and varsity coaches, civil rights icons, and those in the highest seats of political power, Washington Post reporters Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa offer a poignant and moving exploration of George Floyd’s America, revealing how a man who simply wanted to breathe ended up touching the world
August 1, 2023
Read for the Booktube Prize.
July 28, 2024
Wow. What a feat of a research project.
Using George Floyd's family history to illustrate the course of institutional racism was a genius idea, especially in addition to juxtaposing it with Chauvin's family history. A truly educational read, made highly emotionally resonating through the personal angle of George Floyd's life, as well as the voices of his friends, partners, and family.
It is, naturally, very difficult to read, since you are aware of the tragic ending his life is gonna take at every moment, so coming into this book with time and patience is important, I think.
Using George Floyd's family history to illustrate the course of institutional racism was a genius idea, especially in addition to juxtaposing it with Chauvin's family history. A truly educational read, made highly emotionally resonating through the personal angle of George Floyd's life, as well as the voices of his friends, partners, and family.
It is, naturally, very difficult to read, since you are aware of the tragic ending his life is gonna take at every moment, so coming into this book with time and patience is important, I think.
December 26, 2022
Breathtaking universality in the painstakingly specific.
Educational inequity, unaffordable housing, the opioid epidemic, mass incarceration, mental illness, inequitable employment, police brutality, and policy gridlock on life-or-death matters - all through the eyes of one man.
Go read this ‼️ Merry Christmas lol.
Educational inequity, unaffordable housing, the opioid epidemic, mass incarceration, mental illness, inequitable employment, police brutality, and policy gridlock on life-or-death matters - all through the eyes of one man.
Go read this ‼️ Merry Christmas lol.
August 12, 2022
How this laughable book was ever printed is beyond me...it should be called his name WAS George Floyd , thankfully he's no longer in this world ..he isn't missed , as to the author of this rubbish ...it's only good for one thing , toilet paper
May 21, 2023
This is a beautiful tribute to the man, George Floyd. His story is told with respect and care. I found it to be so deeply moving, and I’m so glad it’s out in the world. This is the story of the man who inspired a movement. I especially enjoyed the audiobook narration along with the text.
October 5, 2023
It's so hypocritical that black lives matter unless they are unborn black babies.
September 7, 2023
This book gives both a retelling of the tragic life of George Floyd and a explanation of the American systems/realities that disproportionately have a negative effect on black people. I went into this book expecting to hate it, but having finished the book I have come pretty impressed with the work the authors put into this book.
What I loved most about this book was the storytelling. Floyd’s life was very fascinating (for me) but deeply distressing. I have often thought that the left made a wicked man a saint. This book forced me to reconsider that narrative in my head.
The book loses multiple stars by providing what I believe to be very unconvincing criticisms of America, paired with what I also believe to be unhelpful solutions to racial issues in America. I won’t rehash arguments here, and I would still encourage anyone to read this book and think for themselves about these issues, but for me the book on this front was horribly unsatisfactory.
What I loved most about this book was the storytelling. Floyd’s life was very fascinating (for me) but deeply distressing. I have often thought that the left made a wicked man a saint. This book forced me to reconsider that narrative in my head.
The book loses multiple stars by providing what I believe to be very unconvincing criticisms of America, paired with what I also believe to be unhelpful solutions to racial issues in America. I won’t rehash arguments here, and I would still encourage anyone to read this book and think for themselves about these issues, but for me the book on this front was horribly unsatisfactory.
June 22, 2022
George Floyd was murdered.
Non-fiction, well-researched bio of George "Perry" Floyd,
written by the authors/ 2 Washington Post journalists. Gave
this 3.5 stars.
George Floyd, lived @ various points in North Carolina, New
York, Texas, Florida & Minnesota. His parents were Larcenia,
a domestic, & George Sr. a musician. George had 6 siblings.
Father went on the road for his music, so George grew up
w/o a positive male influence. George was 6'6" & around 220
& played basketball & football in high school. He hoped to
play pro sports. George unknowingly intimidated others w/
his dark skin + size. The policeman who murdered George,
D. Chauvin, was 5'9". The authors included background info
on Chauvin. Per the authors, the $20. bill George used at the
convenience store, on his last day, was never proven to be
counterfeit.
The authors interviewed friends, family members, teachers,
coaches, preachers, others. George showed humor & smarts,
but struggled w/ anxiety, depression & claustrophobia. His
teachers reported he mostly knew the material but froze
up over testing. His HS had a good football reputation &
several previous young football graduates made it to the
NFL. Which created pressure for George & his teammates.
George tried a (4 year) college in Florida but the academics
overwhelmed him. George did manual labor & sold street
drugs IE coke. He worked as a security guard & delivery
truck driver, eventually fired for falling asleep at the wheel.
Police detained George 20 times, sometimes for trivial
reasons or due to his imposing size. George received a 5 year
prison sentence & served 4, even though he didn't hold a gun
on a woman during an armed robbery. He & his buds had the
wrong house (they sought drugs). Being in prison severely
tested his claustrophobia.
George received drug rehab at a Salvation Army facility in
Minnesota. He had misused weed, Percocet, fentanyl &
heroine. Because George had a felony record, this narrowed
his employment and housing choices.
I 'got' the point made by the authors that George sold street
drugs, b/c of "economic desperation." Using their rationale,
wouldn't all poor people sell street drugs? We know this is
not the case. Also his mother + grandmother reminded him
to stay out of trouble. George admitted his imperfection,
that he prayed and wanted a smoother future. But Cauvin,
acting as George's judge and jury, took away his future.
Took away his day in court. 3 other less experienced police
on the scene did nothing to stop Chauvin.
Revised 06/22/22.
Non-fiction, well-researched bio of George "Perry" Floyd,
written by the authors/ 2 Washington Post journalists. Gave
this 3.5 stars.
George Floyd, lived @ various points in North Carolina, New
York, Texas, Florida & Minnesota. His parents were Larcenia,
a domestic, & George Sr. a musician. George had 6 siblings.
Father went on the road for his music, so George grew up
w/o a positive male influence. George was 6'6" & around 220
& played basketball & football in high school. He hoped to
play pro sports. George unknowingly intimidated others w/
his dark skin + size. The policeman who murdered George,
D. Chauvin, was 5'9". The authors included background info
on Chauvin. Per the authors, the $20. bill George used at the
convenience store, on his last day, was never proven to be
counterfeit.
The authors interviewed friends, family members, teachers,
coaches, preachers, others. George showed humor & smarts,
but struggled w/ anxiety, depression & claustrophobia. His
teachers reported he mostly knew the material but froze
up over testing. His HS had a good football reputation &
several previous young football graduates made it to the
NFL. Which created pressure for George & his teammates.
George tried a (4 year) college in Florida but the academics
overwhelmed him. George did manual labor & sold street
drugs IE coke. He worked as a security guard & delivery
truck driver, eventually fired for falling asleep at the wheel.
Police detained George 20 times, sometimes for trivial
reasons or due to his imposing size. George received a 5 year
prison sentence & served 4, even though he didn't hold a gun
on a woman during an armed robbery. He & his buds had the
wrong house (they sought drugs). Being in prison severely
tested his claustrophobia.
George received drug rehab at a Salvation Army facility in
Minnesota. He had misused weed, Percocet, fentanyl &
heroine. Because George had a felony record, this narrowed
his employment and housing choices.
I 'got' the point made by the authors that George sold street
drugs, b/c of "economic desperation." Using their rationale,
wouldn't all poor people sell street drugs? We know this is
not the case. Also his mother + grandmother reminded him
to stay out of trouble. George admitted his imperfection,
that he prayed and wanted a smoother future. But Cauvin,
acting as George's judge and jury, took away his future.
Took away his day in court. 3 other less experienced police
on the scene did nothing to stop Chauvin.
Revised 06/22/22.
June 20, 2022
This intense biography/memoir by two political enterprise reporters at the Washington Post brilliantly achieved what the authors had intended: “Here, we have documented Floyd’s struggle to breathe as a Black man in America, a battle that began long before a police officer’s knee landed on his neck.” Through the context they provided to George Floyd’s life and death, the long history of systemic racism in America, through the humanisation of the man who overnight became a symbol of the insidious discrimination that continues to plague the lives of Black men today, the authors allowed me to know the man behind the name – his strengths and his vulnerability, his dreams and his nightmares, his hopes and his failures, his happiness and his despair. I shared the grief of his family and friends, of his community and of his nation, as I came to more deeply comprehend how Floyd had been deprived of air, unable to breath, for most of his life.
The authors began their immaculate research with his enslaved ancestor in 1857, Floyd’s great-great-grandfather, and journeyed through history to document the racial injustices that marked all aspects of the lives of Black Americans. Particularly, their review of the relationship between Black men and the legal and police systems were crucial to comprehend the setting that had led to Floyd’s death, his collision with Derek Chauvin. Samuels and Olorunnipa profiled Derek Chauvin and the procedures of the Minnesota Police Department with regard to its perspective on Black men, views that skewed their routine dealings with those they had identified as overly aggressive, deceptive, and dangerous in all situations. The research and data provided were compelling and disturbing in the prejudice and persecution revealed.
The dedication of civil rights activists, of Floyd’s family and those who had witnessed the death, and of the legal team who succeeded in indicting Chauvin, was inspirational. Floyd’s death echoed around the globe. American VP Harris hoped that “the lessons learned in the aftermath of his death could allow the country to sing a new song when it came to racial justice.” Yet, “racism remain[s] a pernicious force, a living nightmare” for a “weathered people.”
The authors began their immaculate research with his enslaved ancestor in 1857, Floyd’s great-great-grandfather, and journeyed through history to document the racial injustices that marked all aspects of the lives of Black Americans. Particularly, their review of the relationship between Black men and the legal and police systems were crucial to comprehend the setting that had led to Floyd’s death, his collision with Derek Chauvin. Samuels and Olorunnipa profiled Derek Chauvin and the procedures of the Minnesota Police Department with regard to its perspective on Black men, views that skewed their routine dealings with those they had identified as overly aggressive, deceptive, and dangerous in all situations. The research and data provided were compelling and disturbing in the prejudice and persecution revealed.
The dedication of civil rights activists, of Floyd’s family and those who had witnessed the death, and of the legal team who succeeded in indicting Chauvin, was inspirational. Floyd’s death echoed around the globe. American VP Harris hoped that “the lessons learned in the aftermath of his death could allow the country to sing a new song when it came to racial justice.” Yet, “racism remain[s] a pernicious force, a living nightmare” for a “weathered people.”
June 3, 2024
“Being Black in America is its own pre existing condition”
It was recently the 4th anniversary of the untimely death of George Floyd and as this was one of my favourite non-fiction reads from last year, I thought it was about time that I reviewed it.
Written by two Washington Post journalists, and awarded the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for non fiction, this is as you can imagine, a thoroughly researched and well written book examining the deep seated history of structural racism existing in America today, told through the lens of one man’s life.
The authors give us a detailed history of Floyd; his upbringing, his circumstances at the time of his death, but also we’re introduced to his friends and family; he was loved, and a part of a community. He was an athlete, a father, a son, and a friend to many, and the point is clearly made that he was more than just another name in a long list of victims of police brutality. He also had troubled times in his life, and I appreciated that the authors didn’t attempt to sugar coat any of that for the sake of martyring him posthumously.
As well as focusing on Floyd as an individual, the authors dug deep and demonstrated how his family being rooted in slavery, and being subjected to Jim Crow laws, school segregation, over policing of their community and mass incarceration of young black men in particular, made for the perfect storm that was George’s life. It’s a racist system and it was rigged against him from the start.
A poignant and incredibly interesting depiction of America told through the life and death of one man. I highly recommend it.
It was recently the 4th anniversary of the untimely death of George Floyd and as this was one of my favourite non-fiction reads from last year, I thought it was about time that I reviewed it.
Written by two Washington Post journalists, and awarded the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for non fiction, this is as you can imagine, a thoroughly researched and well written book examining the deep seated history of structural racism existing in America today, told through the lens of one man’s life.
The authors give us a detailed history of Floyd; his upbringing, his circumstances at the time of his death, but also we’re introduced to his friends and family; he was loved, and a part of a community. He was an athlete, a father, a son, and a friend to many, and the point is clearly made that he was more than just another name in a long list of victims of police brutality. He also had troubled times in his life, and I appreciated that the authors didn’t attempt to sugar coat any of that for the sake of martyring him posthumously.
As well as focusing on Floyd as an individual, the authors dug deep and demonstrated how his family being rooted in slavery, and being subjected to Jim Crow laws, school segregation, over policing of their community and mass incarceration of young black men in particular, made for the perfect storm that was George’s life. It’s a racist system and it was rigged against him from the start.
A poignant and incredibly interesting depiction of America told through the life and death of one man. I highly recommend it.
November 2, 2022
Listened to the audio, via Borrowbox.
The Details
Narrated by Robert Samuels, Tolouse Olorunnipa, Dion Graham.
Unabridged.
This was so much more than "just" a book on social justice, about a recent tragedy, it went into depth of Floyd's life and his family history, other black body's brutalised in this warped sense of "justice", and (what I feel to be incredibly important), the taking away of the victim anonymity that often occurs with a crime, and replenishes the human hood of the individual killed, once more.
This was superbly put together and you can see a hell of a lot of time and research of various sources went into the making of this.
It was so painful to read because there was lots of scene dramatisation made from extensive research, interviews, body cam footage recordings from witnesses, etc, that really put you into a frame of mind of how it must havr felt to be there at time. If it was painful, traumatising and triggering to read about it, I can only imagine how those directly involved from family, friends, witnesses and of course those who's lives were taken, were feeling.
Overall, this was a bloody fantastic book.
Pick it up, give it a go and enjoy! >(^_^)<
Gén
The Details
Narrated by Robert Samuels, Tolouse Olorunnipa, Dion Graham.
Unabridged.
This was so much more than "just" a book on social justice, about a recent tragedy, it went into depth of Floyd's life and his family history, other black body's brutalised in this warped sense of "justice", and (what I feel to be incredibly important), the taking away of the victim anonymity that often occurs with a crime, and replenishes the human hood of the individual killed, once more.
This was superbly put together and you can see a hell of a lot of time and research of various sources went into the making of this.
It was so painful to read because there was lots of scene dramatisation made from extensive research, interviews, body cam footage recordings from witnesses, etc, that really put you into a frame of mind of how it must havr felt to be there at time. If it was painful, traumatising and triggering to read about it, I can only imagine how those directly involved from family, friends, witnesses and of course those who's lives were taken, were feeling.
Overall, this was a bloody fantastic book.
Pick it up, give it a go and enjoy! >(^_^)<
Gén
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