His Name Is George Floyd Quotes

“Sis,” he said. “I don’t want to rule the world; I don’t want to run the world. I just want to touch the world.”
― Robert Samuels, His Name Is George Floyd: One Man's Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice

“Their hope was that, one day, lawmakers would understand that racist systems would not be dismantled with righteous words alone—the governor’s pessimism was a marker of privilege that they could not afford. They had to be optimistic that things could change; the alternative was far too bleak. For them, continuing the fight was not some glib turn of phrase. Optimism was their American hope, their defense mechanism, a way of survival.”
― Robert Samuels, His Name Is George Floyd: One Man's Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice

“It is our duty to fight for our freedom! It is our duty to win! We will love and support one another! We have nothing to lose but our chains!”
― Robert Samuels, His Name Is George Floyd: One Man's Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice

“Some people just want quiet. The price for peace is justice. Don’t just tell people to shut up and be quiet and keep suffering. Give them peace. Let them know the value of their life. Let them know the law works for them, and you won’t have to quiet them down. They’ll be glad about it. We want justice. No justice, no peace!”
― Robert Samuels, His Name Is George Floyd: One Man's Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice

“You can have racially disparate effects without having racists,” Myers said. “But because [White lawmakers] believed that they were not racists and they were not bigots, no one was doing the analysis on race.”
― Robert Samuels, His Name Is George Floyd: One Man's Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice

“an all-nighter or increasing heart rates to accomplish a strenuous physical challenge—they also strain the immune system. That’s why students get sick after finals week or athletes get so sore after big games. If those cortisol levels remain high over a prolonged period, as has been found in African Americans, the strain makes people more susceptible to sickness. These discoveries called into question the thinking that bad diets and a lack of exercise caused African Americans to have higher rates of hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease. It turned out that the stress of everything, from everyday slights to fears of a deadly interaction with the police, was altering human physiology.”
― Robert Samuels, His Name Is George Floyd: One Man's Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice

“Growing up in America, you already have two strikes,” she told Floyd and his brothers. “And you’re going to have to work three times harder than everybody else if you want to make it in this world, because nobody is going to look out for you. You’re going to have to look out for yourself.”
― Robert Samuels, His Name Is George Floyd: One Man's Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice

“I can’t go in a room like you, because of my size,” he replied. “People look at me and they’re nervous and scared. So I open up to them and let them know I’m okay. I’m a good person.”
― Robert Samuels, His Name Is George Floyd: One Man's Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice

“When I grow up, I’m going to be somebody special,” Floyd sang along with his second-grade classmates in February 1982. “Somebody special is who I’m going to be.”
― Robert Samuels, His Name Is George Floyd: One Man's Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice

“Still, in his dying seconds, as he suffocated under a White police officer’s knee, Floyd managed to speak his love. “Mama, I love you!” he screamed from the pavement, where his cries of “I can’t breathe” were met with an indifference as deadly as hate. “Reese, I love you!” he yelled, a reference to his friend Maurice Hall, who was with him when he was handcuffed that Memorial Day evening. “Tell my kids I love them!”
― Robert Samuels, His Name Is George Floyd: One Man's Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice