Background information

The death of George Floyd

Biden’s speech at the 2020 Democratic National Convention talks about the issue of racism, particularly about the death of George Floyd and its aftermath. In May 2020, a 46-year-old African American named George Floyd was killed when a white police officer knelt on his neck for over nine minutes. Biden strongly alludes to this incident in his speech when he mentions “the injustice of the ‘knee on the neck’ ”. Floyd’s death sparked protests and riots all across the US, especially since there was also footage of the incident, showing exactly what had happened. On April 20, 2021, former police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of the murder of George Floyd, as the jury unanimously reached the conclusion that Chauvin’s acti...