On May 25 last year, George Floyd was suffocated to death by a police officer in Minneapolis, USA. This barbaric act of the police officer was recorded by a 17-year-old girl Darnella Frazier on her mobile phone.
Later the recorded video was viral on the internet and also become evidence against the police officer. Now, the jury has decided to reward Darnella Frazier with Pulitzer Award for her bravery.
George Floyd was accused of minor fraud. On May 25, 2020, the police arrived at his house to arrest him. He wasn’t in his house, a car was seen returning. The police surrounded the car and dropped it. A police officer named Derek Chauvin put his knee on George’s neck and began pressing him. He continues so for the next 8-10 minutes. Eventually, George died.
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Frazier, who was standing at a distance, shot a video of the incident and it was viral in just a few hours.
When the case reached court, the same video was presented by the public prosecutor and after a Forensic investigation, it was proved that the video is genuine. After this, there was a wave of violence in America and a movement took place under the banner of ‘Black Lives Matter’.
Pulitzer Board said that Frazier has set an example of courage and bravery by making the video. We have come to know that to what extent the police mis-behalf with the accused. It is just because of Frazier that the issue got the attention of the world.
Earlier, these awards were scheduled on April 19 but due to coronavirus, they were re-scheduled to June 11.
The Pulitzer award is given in the field of journalism. Some of the important awards given this year are:
Public Service: The New York Times
Breaking News Reporting: Star Tribune
Investigative Reporting: Matt Rocheleau, Vernal Coleman, Laura Crimaldi, Evan Allen and Brendan McCarthy (five journalists from the Boston Globe)
Explanatory Reporting: Andrew Chung, Lawrence Hurley, Andrea Januta, Jaimi Dowdell and Jackie Botts of Reuters, and Ed Yong of The Atlantic
Local Reporting: Kathleen McGrory and Neil Bedi of The Tampa Bay Times
Feature Writing: Nadja Drost of The California Sunday Magazine, and Mitchell S. Jackson of Runner’s World