Four years after George Floyd, the backlash is underway

Four years after George Floyd was arrested and murdered by Minneapolis police, the nation is in the midst of a backlash movement that is trying to rewrite the narrative, the legacy and even the facts of the killing.

Call it the anti-reckoning. And it’s a disturbing sign of how hard-fought progress on policing and racial justice reforms are under attack by powerful and entrenched interests.

Floyd, a Black man, was taken into custody at around 8 p.m. on Memorial Day, May 25, 2020, after police received a call reporting someone trying to pass a fake $20 bill. Officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on Floyd’s neck despite Floyd’s anguished cries that he was unable to breathe. After 9½ minutes, Floyd was dead.