Teen Who Had Filmed George Floyd’s Murder Wins Pulitzer Citation

Protests  in US over George Floyd’s death

(Photo: PTI)

The Pulitzer Prize Board on Friday, 11 June, awarded a special citation to the teenager who had recorded the policial murder of George Floyd last year.

George Floyd, an African-American man, had been killed by a Minnesota police officer Derek Chauvin in May last year.

Darnella Frazier, who was 17 years old at the time, had recorded the video of the murder, which had subsequently gone viral on social media. The video showed the policeman kneeling on Floyd's neck with his hands casually in his pockets, as Floyd struggled to breathe.

Frazier’s video had sparked outrage across the world, with people coming out in protest against the racist crime.

According to The Washington Post, The Pulitzer Prize board said that Frazier has been bestowed with the award for “courageously reporting the murder of George Floyd, a video that spurred protests against police brutality around the world, highlighting the crucial role of citizens in journalists’ quest for truth and justice".

Roy Peter Clark, former member of the Pulitzer jury, had noted that the youngster's video had a “social and ethical purpose, one that aligns with journalistic values”.

Frazier had been walking down to a store on 25 May, the day of the crime, when she had witnessed the struggle between the police officer and the deceased.

The teenager never knew that she was producing “one of the most important civil rights documents in a generation”, Nieman Foundation Curator Ann Marie Lipinski said in relation to Frazier's video.

“A lot of people call me a hero even though I don’t see myself as one. I was just in the right place at the right time,” Darnella Frazier said. “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.

(With inputs from The Washington Post)