“But George Floyd is a movement. And his name speaks for everyone who has been affected by police violence!”

Almost two years ago, on May 25, 2020, George Floyd was murdered, and his death sparked a movement within a greater community. Just days ago, a white man drove three hours from Binghamton to Buffalo and murdered ten people out of a belief in white supremacy. When this title says “…and the Struggle for Racial Justice,” it means that racism is still here, and education is still necessary. And that’s what this book does: educates through George Floyd’s life, lineage, and legacy, interwoven with laws, statistics, and real-life examples of Black people being pushed down by an oppressive system again and again. But this book also shares the hope that is still there for future change, despite a system that somehow didn’t flag Derek Chauvin and his long-standing record of overly aggressive behavior, leading to Floyd’s death.

This is so well done and well put together - I loved that while learning history and current laws and statistics, I was also reading the multi-generational story of George Floyd’s family. It’s one thing to read about historical events that happened in general, and another to see how one very real family was personally affected over decades. I can’t remember a time I’ve ever stayed up way too far into the night to finish a non-fiction book, but WOW this book had me hooked. Absolutely incredible and going on the antiracism “required reading” list.

Thank you to Books Forward PR and Viking Books for the copy of this ARC.