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RACISM

Lying About George Floyd’s Death Is Salt in America’s Wound

The claim that George Floyd died of a drug overdose is a white supremacist fantasy

Dr. Allison Wiltz
Momentum
Published in
4 min readOct 18, 2022

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Photo by Koshu Kunii on Unsplash

Before a jury convicted Derek Chauvin of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter for his role in George Floyd’s death, white supremacists, racists, and police apologists insisted George Floyd died from a fentanyl overdose, when we know that’s not what happened. On May 25th, 2020, Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd’s neck for nine minutes and twenty-nine seconds, depriving him of the oxygen he needed to breathe and violating his civil rights. The viral video exposed a level of cruelty that is shamefully common in America, a country where officers kill Black people at three times the rate of White people.

The vicious lie that George Floyd died of a fentanyl overdose serves one purpose - to overlook the cruel, cavalier attitude of Chauvin and his fellow officers while blaming Floyd, an unarmed Black man, for his death. This would seem like old news if it weren’t for Kanye West’s seemingly endless stream of anti-Black rhetoric. As if wearing and promoting a “white lives matter” shirt and spreading anti-Semitic rhetoric wasn’t bad enough, now Kanye has taken aim at George Floyd on the “Drink Champs” podcast…

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Momentum
Momentum

Published in Momentum

Momentum is a blog that captures and reflects the moment we find ourselves in, one where rampant anti-Black racism is leading to violence, trauma, protest, reflection, sorrow, and more. Momentum doesn’t look away when the news cycle shifts.

Dr. Allison Wiltz
Dr. Allison Wiltz

Written by Dr. Allison Wiltz

Black womanist scholar with a PhD from New Orleans, LA with bylines in Oprah Daily, Momentum, ZORA, Cultured. #WEOC Founder

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