One Year After George Floyd’s Murder, the Racial Reckoning Gave Way to a Backlash

It has now been a year since white police officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for approximately nine minutes, while a crowd of bystanders begged him to spare the 46-year-old Black man’s life. In the immediate aftermath of the killing, while the coronavirus pandemic was still ravaging communities, thousands of people in every single state took to the streets to protest what took place in Minneapolis and the structural forces that led to it. Former president Donald Trump’s excessive and violent response only seemed to further legitimize the actions of the protesters. And...