Say His Name: Five Days for George Floyd
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- Reviews
- Citation
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- Transcript
On Memorial weekend in May of 2020, police were called to Cup Foods on 38th and Chicago in South Minneapolis for a report of a counterfeit money transaction. The world watched the acts that transpired as former police officer Derrick Chauvin, aided by three others, pinned George Floyd down by his neck for over nine minutes, murdering him in front of onlookers that broadcasted the tragic scene live to the world. Minneapolis, the country, and the world would forever change, as a global uprising against systemic racism ensued, the epicenter at the Third Precinct Police station in Director’s Cy Dodson’s longtime neighborhood, revealing an immersive observation of unrest in the days between the killing of George Floyd and the charges filed against police officer Derek Chauvin. The film captures how community members perceived the immense changes in their city and offered support to one another.
"Darnella Frazier captured the death of George Floyd on camera, and the widespread distribution of that footage demanded accountability for the unjust murder. Subsequently, filmmaker Cy Dodson captured in real time the arc of a few days of human emotional expression at the scene of the crime, processing that community’s reaction to the injustice ... This film marks a moment in time that will be studied for decades. While it is very difficult to watch, the jury hopes that it will help the audience look critically at the historical and systemic white supremacy that led to the murder of George Floyd, and commit to dismantling racism in all of our institutions and systems. As one of the subjects says at the end of the film: Let the healing work begin." —DocEdge Film Festival
Citation
Main credits
Dodson, Cy (film director)
Dodson, Cy (film producer)
Dodson, Cy (director of photography)
Dodson, Cy (editor of moving image work)
Seavert, Lindsey (film producer)
Other credits
Music composed by Stephen Letnes, Charlies McCarron, Alzie Ramsey.
Distributor subjects
"George Floyd",police,policing,"Policing in America","Racial Justice","Community Uprising",Protest,Minneapolis,"Derrick Chauvin",racism,"systemic racism",Keywords
- [Cameraman] If I could just get some shots here...
- Sure, that's fine. Yeah. We're here to read the signs so he can ask me more questions. All right, let's keep reading the signs, OK? How about the one in the purple? Can you see it?
- Black Lives Matter
- Uh huh. All right, how about this one?
- Pray for George Floyd.
- Remember what we say about-
- Oh, yeah
- -people when they die?
- They can't come back.
- They can't come back. Right? Right. Yeah, they can't come back.
- [George Floyd] I can't breathe man, please! Please let me stand. Please man, I can't breathe.
- Get onto the sidewalk please, one side or the other, please.
- [George] My face is getting it bad. Oh my God, oh my God.
- Y'all see that? He's not-
- Bro he's not even fucking moving, get off of his fucking neck, bro.
- Like for real-
- Get off of his neck.
- You're still on him bro.
- [Police] Get back on the street, get back on the street. Get back on the street.
- No more got to die, no more got to die.
- [George] Mama, mama.
- [Woman] Enough is enough, we're not taking it no more. We're not taking it any more. It's over. It stops here.
- [Bystander] 987, you just killed that nigga, bro-
- [Bystander 2] Y'all just really just killed that man.
- [Protester] Make sure they charge him, you hear me? Let's make sure they charge him.
- [Crowd] Black Lives!
- [Man] Say his name!
- [Crowd] Black Lives!
- [Man] Say his name!
- [Crowd] Black Lives!
- [Man] Say his name!
- And I must speak to my African Americans. Everything you ever got as a people, you either have to fight for it, or you die for it.
- [Cameraman] Where's everybody headed?
- I think the police station, or the capital, one of the two.
- What you are sitting on is a powder keg. 1992, Los Angeles, all over again, but all over the country now, so are you prepared to deal with it?
- [Crowd] Hands up! Don't Shoot. Hands up! Don't shoot.
- Don't you do it, no no, don't do it.
- That's why we do it, peaceful protest. Now you can fuck the police and all of that, but I'm not burying another nigga, you hear me? Peaceful protest.
- [Crowd] George Floyd. George Floyd. George Floyd. George Floyd.
- And I want every youngster out here to know one thing, they can't handle y'all.
- [Crowd] George Floyd.
- It ain't just Black youngsters, it's white youngsters. It's Asian youngsters. It's LGBTQ youngsters. See, murder ain't got no color. Murder ain't got no color.
- We're gonna burn the building down. We're burning the building down.
- You can't handle these youngsters if they get loose. And they loose now.
- So day two, ain't it? They were here till five in the morning last night. I told em, regroup tomorrow. It's late.
- [Crowd] Don't shoot. Don't shoot. Don't shoot, don't shoot. Don't shoot, don't shoot. Don't shoot, don't shoot. Don't shoot, don't shoot. Don't shoot, don't shoot. Don't shoot, don't shoot. Don't shoot, don't shoot.
- Go, now, go!
- They wasn't even fuckin throwing shit
- Call Dad, that's tear gas, I'm out.`
- Move, move!
- Give him some air!
- [Protester] They got snipers on the roof of the fire--
- That's right, they started the fire, and now they gotta put it out. It's very sad, and they didn't care about the life of that brother, so now this is what they cause. We are at war. And it's unfortunate, but somebody gotta pay for this.
- These people crazy. They done cleaned Target out, even took they signs.
- Yeah this shit crazy man, isn't it crazy out here?
- [Cameraman] This is my damn neighborhood.
- It's mine too, I'm here right down the street. Shit, I ain't out here to tear it up, you know what I'm saying? I mean, I understand protesting, you know, for a peaceful cause, you know, but, you know, they just tearing it up, man, you know? They say it's justice, but it's like, you know, what is the justice in this? You know, ain't no justice in this. You had your knee on a Black man's neck, you held your knee down on him for nine minutes straight, until he lost his life, you know, I mean, what's the explanation? They got an explanation for that? This is the results of that, you know. Look at this, look at this. This is the result of that action, you know. Today is sad, man.
- [Crowd] No justice, no peace. Prosecute the police. No justice, no peace. Prosecute the police.
- Stop it, stop this right now. Stop it now. Please, please
- These are low income people here, and disability seniors. We depend on light rail, we depend on buses. We depend on Aldi, Target. Everything we had, they just took away from us.
- This is sad man, this is... This is our home, man. We're supposed to take care of our fuckin' city man, not destroy it.
- I worked at Aldi's over there, you know. it-it tears me down to see that my job is gone, I was getting paid $16 an hour. It kills me to see that my job is gone, but it also uplifts me to see that my community came together to change, to change.
- [Crowd] I can't breathe, I can't breathe. I can't breathe, I can't breathe.
- We'll get a car over here, get a car over here
- Hey, someone grab their car.
- Hey! We need someone-
- Someone grab their car!
- A ride to the hospital-
- Get a car, get a car, please.
- A ride to the hospital!
- Godspeed dude.
- God bless you.
- God bless you.
- It's, it's terrifying. And to think that, you know, it's planning again for tonight, I can't believe this is happening in South Minneapolis. And this is my home, this was my place.
- [Crowd] Burn it down! Burn it down! Burn it down! Burn it down! Burn it down! Burn it down! Burn it down! Burn it down! Burn it down! Burn it down! Burn it down!
- We're going to do our prayer for gathering part here before we leave, make easy communications. This Native youth organization that was lit on fire last night. But it'll be rebuilt, brick by brick, we will rebuild again.
- Woo woo.
- Where do you want it, Raj?
- Up top, top corner.
- Really? Top corner, OK. You gotta wait, I gotta grab some screws.
- This is a laundromat. But they took virtually everything, you know. Even they steal the clothes, even. Inside there was expensive clothes, they steal it. And all the glass is broken, crazy.
- I sat out here all night long last night, because I didn't want them to burn my building down. I just moved in in January, and I don't want to be homeless again, so. It's like I wanted people to know that somebody-- people lived here, that this wasn't just a, like a, you know, a building, you know?
- Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is in custody. He has been charged with third degree murder, we are in the process of continuing to review the evidence, there may be subsequent charges later.
- [Loudspeaker] This is the Minnesota State Patrol, you are in violation of unlawful assembly. You are ordered to cease your unlawful behavior and disperse peaceably from the area immediately.
- No respect on either side, we've been disrespected, they're getting disrespected, because they took so long to put the people in jail and they ain't done, they got to finish.
- I think they should just put the other three officers in jail.
- And the people will go home!
- And the people will go home. It's just that simple.
- Good, how are you doing?
- We live over by Stanford, and we were out for a little bike ride this morning, and I was confused by why there were so many cars around. And then I saw all the people carrying bags of groceries, and I mean, I just lost it.
- It started, there wasn't any bags of food over here, and now the whole, like, lot underneath the trees is packed with food, and people are still coming to drop off food.
- We have nowhere to go get food, and you know, there's no-- like my mom relies on public transportation, she can't get to the grocery store, she can't get her medication because they broke into Walgreens and stole it.
- You feel like there's nothing else that you can do, pitching in and doing what you can, and trying to help out your community, is what we got left.
- People need to bag over here, if you could please
- Yeah. I've lived here about 20 years, in this neighborhood, in the Third Precinct. It's, uh, crazy. It's crazy.
- Target! Target gave us the OK to donate the food. So right now, we have people who are calling the nonprofits, and the food pantries, so they can start sending out trucks. We thought it was a couple people, and then we got an army of individuals who want to help. There's some people on both sides, there's some people participating in the riots, some people who aren't, some people who care about peaceful protests, but what matters is that there are people out here coming together, to help fix something that is wrong, and that's the same thing that needs to happen with the justice system. We see the problems, we need people to come together, I'm so happy for the people we have out here, I am just a random person, these people are phenomenal.
- We gotta give what they're looking for, we can get united man, I came over here man, I seen everybody united, all colors, shapes and sizes.
- I'm not standing here by my own, but I've cried every single day this week. I'm exhausted. I'm tired. But I'm here. I showed up. Y'all showed up. We showed up.
- If you see everybody having a broom, sweeping up water, trying to break down every single flame that we have caused, as a community, then that should tell you something, that we need justice for George Floyd. And that's the voice that we're pleading for.
- [Crowd] George Floyd. George Floyd. George Floyd. George Floyd. George Floyd. George Floyd. George Floyd. George Floyd. George Floyd. George Floyd. George Floyd. George Floyd. George Floyd. George Floyd. George Floyd.
- [Crowd] Say his name! George Floyd! Say his name! George Floyd! Say his name! George Floyd! Say his name! George Floyd!
- [Announcer] Here as the jury, I will now read the verdicts as they will appear in the pertinent record, by the federal judicial district. The state of Minnesota, county of Hennepin, district court, fourth judicial district. State of Minnesota, plaintiff, versus Derek Michael Chauvin, defendant. We the jury, in the above entitled manner, as to count one unintentional second degree murder while committing a felony, find the defendant guilty.
- [Crowd] Black Lives Matter! Black Lives Matter! Black Lives Matter!
- Every day!
- Black Lives Matter!
- Every day, every day Every day, every day. Let the healing work begin. Let the healing work begin. Let the healing work begin. God please, let the healing work begin.
- We got a lot of work to do.
- Repentance. Repentance! Accountability. Healing.
