The Reckoning Will Be Incomplete Without Black Women and Girls

The nationwide outcry against systemic racism almost always centers men and boys.

On May 25, George Floyd died, calling for his mother and gasping for breath. Derek Chauvin, a white Minneapolis police officer, killed him, forcing his knee onto Floyd’s neck until the man stopped moving, and for several minutes after that. The agonizing moments were captured on camera and shared with the world.

When black husbands, fathers, sons, and neighbors fall victim to law enforcement, often black wives, daughters, mothers, and girlfriends pick up the pieces. They must keep families together, manage the community’s collective grief, and lead the resistance with little acknowledgment of their own mental and physical well-being or safety. Sometimes the weight is too much to bear.

Read more at The Atlantic.