Pulitzer Awards Citizen-Journalist Citation to “George Floyd” videographer
Darnella Frazier, the then 16-year-old girl who courageously filmed the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, and then posted the video on Facebook, was awarded a special citation by Pulitzer, the journalism awards organization.
A junior in high school at the time of the filming, the gutsy teenager captured the entire incident on her cell phone and would later testify at the trial that led to the conviction of Derek Chauvin. The video shows Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck until he lost consciousness, and records Floyd’s distressed comments that covered many painful words like “I can’t breathe”, “my neck hurts”, “my stomach hurts”, “Mama”, and “don’t kill me”.
Frazier has also received a PEN America Award and was named the DailyDot Internet Person of the Year. Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, noted that “the taking of that video is maybe the only reason why Derek Chauvin will go to prison.”
