Teen who took George Floyd video speaks out on anniversary: ‘Part of my childhood was taken’

In statement on social media, Darnella Frazier reflects on trauma and healing from what she witnessed: ‘It made me realise how dangerous it is to be Black in America’

A 17-year-old girl who filmed the murder of George Floyd on 25 May, 2020, as white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pressed his kneed into his neck while Mr Floyd cried out for help, spoke out at length for the first time since his death in a powerful statement on social media.

“Although this wasn’t the first time I’ve seen a Black man get killed at the hands of the police, this is the first time I witnessed it happen in front of me,” Darnella Frazier wrote on Facebook on Tuesday, one year after the killing of Mr Floyd, whose death – and footage of his murder – galvanised an international cry for justice for Black people killed by police.

It was otherwise a “normal day” for the then-17-year-old, who was walking with her 9-year-old cousin to the corner store, “not even prepared for what I was about to see, not even knowing my life was going to change on this exact day in those exact moments”.

“It changed me. It changed how I viewed life. It made me realise how dangerous it is to be Black in America,” said Ms Frazier, who is now 18 years old. “We shouldn’t have to walk on eggshells around police officers, the same people that are supposed to protect and serve. We are looked at as thugs, animals, and criminals, all because of the colour of our skin. Why are Black people the only ones viewed this way when every race has some type of wrongdoing?”

She continues to hold the “weight and trauma” from what she witnessed, having to leave her home after facing threats, “hopping from hotel to hotel” and the panic and anxiety attacks that followed, she said. Though “it’s easier now” than one year ago, “I’m not who I used to be,” she wrote.

“A part of my childhood was taken from me,” she said. “My 9-year-old cousin who witnessed the same thing I did got a part of her childhood taken from her.”

Ms Frazier testified during Chauvin’s murder trial, where she told the court that she stays up at night “apologising and apologising to George Floyd for not doing more and not physically interacting and not saving his life” in the moment.

Chauvin was found guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. He could face up to 40 years in prison.

“A lot of people call me a hero even though I don’t see myself as one,” Ms Frazier wrote. “I was just in the right place at the right time. Behind this smile, behind these awards, behind the publicity, I’m a girl trying to heal from something I am reminded of every day.”

She added: “If it weren’t for my video, the world wouldn’t have known the truth. I own that. My video didn’t save George Floyd, but it put his murderer away and off the streets.”

In her closing message, she wrote directly to Mr Floyd: “I can’t express enough how I wish things could have went different, but I want you to know you will always be in my heart. I’ll always remember this day because of you. May your soul rest in peace. May you rest in the most beautiful roses.”

Marches and vigils across the US on Tuesday marked Mr Floyd’s death and revived calls for justice in the wake of his killing and the deaths of Black Americans by police.

Meanwhile, members of Mr Floyd’s family visited with members of Congress and President Joe Biden.

Mr Floyd’s daughter Gianna, 7, led a chant of, “Say his name. George Floyd” outside the White House, where family members met with Mr Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, as administration officials and members of Congress continue to negotiate a bipartisan police reform bill to be named in Mr Floyd’s honour.