George Floyd’s death affected Black and White families differently

Abstract

On May 25th, 2020, George Floyd bought a package of cigarettes from a convenience store with a counterfeit $20 bill. Less than an hour later, he showed no signs of life after being pinned to the ground by three police officers, one of whom had his knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck for over 8 min despite Mr. Floyd crying out that he could not breathe. The murder of Mr. Floyd, indirectly witnessed by innumerable people through cell phone footage, sparked a great deal of public discourse and activity around racial justice. Within a month, people around the world had begun what would become the largest mass protests in support of African Americans since the Civil Rights Movement. Corporations, academic institutions, and yard signs proclaimed solidarity with the aims of the Black Lives Matter movement. Books describing systemic racism and advocating racial dialogue became best sellers. Media raptly characterized responses to the murder of Mr. Floyd as a widespread “racial reckoning” for the people of the United States. In contrast to these public displays, the findings of Sullivan et al. (1) afford insight into how these events shaped the everyday lives of Black and White families. The researchers asked two samples of White and Black parents about their conversations with their children about race, racial inequality, and racial identity, one sample 6 wk before and the other 3 wk after Mr. Floyd’s death. The authors show that everyday family discourse pertaining to racial justice was shaped very differently by the murder of Mr. Floyd, depending on the families’ racial backgrounds. Their findings map the impact of societal movements in the daily lives of families, illustrating both the burden borne by Black families and the challenge of impacting racial discourse in White families. Black parents’ conversations with their children mirrored the increased interest … [↵][1] 1To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: ssinclr{at}princeton.edu. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1