A teenager, who was one of the people to catch on camera the killing of George Floyd, and who later was a witness at the murder trial of one of the officers convicted of his killing, has been awarded a special ward by the Pulitzer committee.
The Pulitzer Prize is the most esteemed prize in journalism, but the committee occasionally give other prizes to others of note in the journalistic world.
Darnella Frazier, who was just 17 at the time, was awarded for her courage.
The Pulitzer committee said they awarded Frazier for:
"Courageously recording 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."
In court, Frazier said of the incident:
"I saw a man terrified, begging for his life. [I saw George Floyd] saying 'I can't breathe'. He was terrified, he was calling for his mom."
She later said:
"When I look at George Floyd I look at my dad, I look at my brother, my cousins, my uncles - because they are all black. And I look at how that could have been one of them."
The killing of Floyd, and the resulting video evidence, sparked huge protests across both the United States and the rest of the world against racism and police brutality. Millions took part, and some of the protests descended into rioting and looting. It was the worst summer of civil strife in the United States since at least the late 1960s.
The Black Lives Matter movement played a key role in organising the protests and were successful in some of their campaigns to defund the police and instead have money put into social projects.
[h/t: BBC]
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