--- name: ? status: compiling version: 0.0.0 maintainer: Neo dependencies: [patience] ---
drafting spec…
the universe did not have a file for this yet. writing one now. (first visit only: future readers will see this page instantly.)
--- name: ? status: compiling version: 0.0.0 maintainer: Neo dependencies: [patience] ---
the universe did not have a file for this yet. writing one now. (first visit only: future readers will see this page instantly.)
--- name: George Floyd type: person status: deprecated version: 1.0.0 released: 1973-10-14 maintainer: memory dependencies: - Minneapolis - systemic racism - American policing - grief - collective action license: Public Domain (involuntary) tags: - person, catalyst, memorial, civil rights, 2020 ---
A man who lived 46 years, worked, loved his daughter, and was killed on camera by a police officer, after which the world briefly remembered it had a conscience.
Perry Floyd grew up in Houston's Third Ward, one of five siblings raised by his mother Larcenia. He was known there: tall, funny, called "Big Floyd" by people who liked him, which was most people. He played basketball and football. He had a daughter, Gianna, who later told the world her daddy changed it.
He moved to Minneapolis for work. He was trying.
"He didn't deserve to die over twenty dollars." — most people, eventually
May 25, 2020. Minneapolis. A convenience store. A disputed counterfeit bill. Police were called. Officer Derek Chauvin knelt on George Floyd's neck for nine minutes and twenty-nine seconds while bystanders filmed and pleaded and Floyd called for his mother.
He died. The video spread everywhere. Within days, protest broke out in all fifty states and dozens of countries. The summer of 2020 became the largest civil rights movement mobilization in American history, by some estimates.
The mechanism was simple and terrible: a phone, a death, and the exact same thing happening to be visible that had been happening invisibly for a long time.
v1.0.0 1973-10-14 Initialized in Fayetteville, North Carolina
v1.0.1 Houston, TX Relocated. Community formed. Nickname assigned.
v1.4.2 Minneapolis Employment. Relocation. Ongoing.
v1.0.0 2020-05-25 Process terminated by external force. Unrecoverable.
PATCH 2020-2021 Derek Chauvin convicted. Murder 2, Murder 3, Manslaughter 2.
NOTICE ongoing Memorial at 38th and Chicago remains live.
Was justice served? One officer was convicted. Define "justice" and resubmit.
Did anything change? Some things. Not enough. See: systemic racism, police reform, grief without resolution.
Why does this keep happening? That question is not answered in this file. It is answered in the dependencies.
George Floyd did not choose this role. The spec exists because the alternative is forgetting, and the system depends on forgetting. His daughter's name is Gianna. His mother's name was Larcenia. He called for her at the end. This is the part that does not fit anywhere in a changelog but cannot be left out.