Five years on from the murder of George Floyd, has anything changed?

9 minutes and 29 seconds. That’s the amount of time Derek Chauvin’s knee was on George Floyd’s neck.

Three other police officers watched as George, who was Black, said ‘I can’t breathe’ more than twenty times, called out for his late mother and asked that his kids be told that he loved them. In the 46-year-old’s final moments, George informed Derek: ‘I’m about to die.’ He still didn’t move.

The act of police brutality, in response to a shopkeeper’s claim that George had paid for cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill, took place in Minneapolis, USA, on May 25 2020, but its impact was felt far wider.  

The footage of George’s murder was shared online by teenager Darnella Frazier, who had gone out to buy snacks but ended up witnessing a moment that would send shockwaves around the globe. 

‘I remember the television had a Black guy lying on the ground. My heart was breaking for that dude,’ George’s uncle Sewlyn Jones recalls. ‘My sister called me, and that’s when I realised that I was sitting back, looking at my nephew dying. I watched him grow from a little baby to a grown man. I loved that dude with my whole heart.’

The movement begins

The heartbreaking and shocking footage led to a movement, which heightened awareness of the many layers of racism and violence against Black people that have been prevalent throughout history. It specifically highlighted the treatment of Black people by police – between 2014 and 2020, the US police killed at least 7680 people, 25% of them were Black.

The first US demonstration took place in Minneapolis the day after his murder, but the marches went on to take place in all 50 US states and over 60 countries. The George Floyd protests in the UK were the largest outside the US, with an estimated 210,000 people protesting in the first weeks. They took place during the current Covid-19 restrictions, so they were risking their health and breaking guidelines to participate. 

Some people questioned if the organised events could lead to more Covid-19 cases, but Dawn Butler defended the actions in an article for Metro.

‘Blame the Government if Covid-19 peaks again, not those marching for basic human rights,’ she wrote.

‘The fact that so many people are willing to take to the streets at this time to stand up against racism shows the strength of feeling and the importance of this critical moment.’

Natasha Johnson, 26, who has contributed to the BBC film Blacklash: The Murder of George Floyd, which reflects on the period after his death, is a high-profile activist who helped organise weekly protests over four months in the UK.

She distinctly remembers stumbling upon the video of George at around 4am, just hours after George’s death, as she was unable to sleep and watching the strong reaction unfold. On why George’s case got more attention than previous unlawful deaths of Black people, Natasha attributes it largely to timing. 

‘There was nowhere else to go as we were in a Covid-19 lockdown. You couldn’t get away from it. Everyone was listening at the right time,’ Natasha tells Metro.

‘It was the first time some white people, or white presenting people, weren’t able to turn a blind eye, because everybody was talking about it on social media, and the news. It was a moment of realisation that racism and police brutality are very real. Black and brown people were like, “We’ve been trying to say this for ages”. 

‘I hate that it had to happen like that, but it was a beautiful tragedy.’

Natasha became passionate about playing her part in driving the movement forward, spending every day using her voice to spread the word of the next marches, utilising social media and encouraging her community to attend.

She quit her job and put my university on hold to fight for Black justice, and set up youth-led organisation All Black Lives UK. It was never not on her mind.

‘Protesting was my purpose. I felt so empowered every week going out and knowing that I had a space for my voice to be heard, and that everybody was there for collective action. It was a special time,’ she remembers.

Recognising injustice is often the first step towards fixing it, and fellow protester Rhian Graham was on that journey. The 33-year-old from Norfolk had just started reading Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge when George died. She called the combination, in addition to Kimberley Jones’ speech, ‘How can we win?’ at a George protest, a ‘call to action’ to understand her white privilege. 

‘You hear a lot about racism in America, but my education highlighted how alive and well racism is in the UK, which I hadn’t understood before,’ she says.

Rhian attended a Black Lives Matter protest in Bristol on June 7, and on that day, it was her rope that was used to help pull down a statue of slave trader Edward Colston. The local community had previously run a decades-long campaign to get it removed, but hadn’t been listened to.

‘Everybody who was on the streets was going to the city centre to march; it was like a magnet was drawing us all to the starting point of the protest. There was a collective unconscious effort of everyone seeing the statue as a target. Everyone who could fit on the end of the rope jumped on the end of it and pulled,’ she recalls.

‘It came down with this almighty crash. Everyone rushed past me and started hitting it, but I’m just stuck there in disbelief. It was an incredible feeling.

‘It’s the most unforgettable moment of my life watching it fall, bar probably giving birth to my son.’ The bronze memorial was then dumped in Bristol Harbour.

A chain reaction

Since George’s death, nearly 170 statues, street names, and other tributes have been removed or renamed in the US. In the UK, an estimated 39 street, building, and school names and 30 statues, plaque,s and other memorials have been removed.

Although some commended the changes to who we commemorate, others felt it was performative and that vandalism could dilute the messaging. 

Rhian was one of four people who faced a criminal case for their role in the toppling of Colston, but were found not guilty. All had admitted their involvement but denied their actions were criminal, saying the statue itself had been a hate crime against the people of the city. 

‘People are entitled to their opinion, but I don’t regret it.‘There had been so little action from the council based on all the protests and people bringing it to their attention that it was offensive,’ says Natasha.

The backlash

Those against the movement began responding to Black Lives Matter with the argument that ‘all lives matter’, while Nigel Farage, who is now Reform leader, compared the BLM movement to the Taliban. Then-President Donald Trump called protesters ‘Left-wing mobs’ spreading ‘toxic propaganda’. Conservative MP Kevin Hollinrake tweeted a picture of a Central London protest with the words ‘Hope these people don’t blame the government if there’s a 2nd spike’. He later apologised.  

In London, former far-right English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson organised a counterprotest on June 13, where mostly white male protestors showed up to make their stance clear. Many people who were previously active in BLM marches decided to stay home for safety, but hundreds still flocked to the capital. Tensions were high when the two groups met, but a moment of kindness from Patrick Hutchinson is what became the lasting image from the day. In a photo widely circulated online, he carried an EDL protester who’d passed out to safety on his shoulder.

Some critics questioned whether the UK could be categorised as experiencing the same structural racism as in the US, despite the facts. In 2020, Black people were nine times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people, and they were three times as likely to be arrested. Between 2011 and 2021, Black people were seven times more likely to die than white people when police restraint was involved.

One of the most shocking cases was that of Julian Cole, who was violently arrested outside a nightclub by Bedfordshire police officers in 2013. Julian spent his life in a minimally conscious state after his neck was broken before dying aged 31. Bedfordshire police did not accept liability but apologised, and the Cole family received £1.2 million in damages. Three officers were fired, but they did not face punishment under the law. 

In another misuse of authority, PC Dalian Atkinson killed former footballer Benjamin Monk in 2016 at his father’s home. He discharged his taser three times and kicked him twice in the head, leaving bootlace prints on his forehead. Benjamin was found guilty of manslaughter in 2021, becoming the first police officer in 35 years to be convicted of the crime. 

The legacy of George Floyd

Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 22.5 years for 2nd-degree unintentional murder, 3rd-degree murder, 2nd-degree manslaughter and violating George’s rights. The other officers who were at the scene were also given time in prison – Tou Thao, 57 months, J. Alexander Keung, 42 months, and Thomas Lane was given a 36-month sentence. 

George’s uncle Selwyn said of the verdict: ‘I didn’t cry, I didn’t holla, I didn’t scream,  I didn’t do anything. I knew that that was just the right thing.’

George’s death undoubtedly led to an increased amount of attention on race-related issues, but whether the period changed anything permanently is often called into question.

While Natasha is proud that she took a stand, she is sadly unconvinced that things have improved. ‘Having a period where everyone thought it was cool to be an activist hasn’t necessarily translated into actual systemic change. I was still experiencing racism before, and I’ve experienced racism after.’ 

In the UK, the Met Police have acknowledged their structural racism, and in a statement, they shared a commitment to becoming an anti-racist organisation.

‘I can’t see them taking steps to correct it,’ says Natasha.

‘Until we can have a conversation about how insidious these things are and start to realise racism is just an arm of all the other types of oppression that are supposed to keep us separate, it’s going to be difficult to change. Often, we have a key stage one understanding of racism. People just think, “Oh, as long as I’m not yelling slurs, it’s okay.”’

Natasha admits she found it difficult to transition back to normal life after the protests ‘lost momentum’ in October 2020.

‘I couldn’t understand why people would stop doing it, and that became difficult to deal with,’ she remembers. ‘I had a mental health crisis and tried to take my life at that point. It was going from the highest high to the lowest low. How amazing it felt to advocate for something was the biggest distraction in terms of not sitting down and thinking, “Oh gosh, all this racism exists”.’

Despite it all, Natasha remains hopeful about the future: ‘Racism is not something that’s going to be fixed overnight. We all have to work on unlearning racism and fixing a broken system designed to oppress. 

‘It’s easy to be cynical, but I know people are working on change.’

Blacklash: The Murder of George Floyd, produced by Rogan Productions, is available to watch on BBC Two tonight at 9pm

Statistics from the Independent Office for Police Conduct, the Institute of Race Relations and GOV.UK

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing Josie.Copson@metro.co.uk 

Share your views in the comments below.