After George Floyd

05/20/21 • 50 min

1 Listener

The world met Christopher Martin when he testified in the Derek Chauvin trial.

Christopherwas just 18-years-old when he accepted a counterfeit $20 bill from George Floyd as a clerk at a Minneapolis Cup Foods. That bill led to a 911 call, and eventually George Floyd’s death.Christopher’s composed yet emotional testimony over his role and his guilt resonated across the country, but his own story is still mostly untold.

Christopher opens up to Trymaine Lee about his life before George Floyd, the trauma of that day and how he’s trying to move forward a year later.

For a transcript, please visit https://www.msnbc.com/intoamerica.

Thoughts? Feedback? Story ideas? Write to us at [email protected]

Further Reading and Listening:

The world met Christopher Martin when he testified in the Derek Chauvin trial.

Christopher opens up to Trymaine Lee about his life before George Floyd, the trauma of that day and how he’s trying to move forward a year later.

For a transcript, please visit https://www.msnbc.com/intoamerica.

Thoughts? Feedback? Story ideas? Write to us at [email protected]

Further Reading and Listening:

Previous Episode

A Shape-Up and a Check-In

Black men are crying out. Suicide is one of the leading causes of death for young Black Americans and our young men are at particular risk. Stigmas, health care access, and social pressures to appear hyper-masculine stop a lot of Black men from getting help. But a grassroots program known as The Confess Project is trying to break this pattern.

The group started in Little Rock, Arkansas in 2016, and now trains barbers across the country to act as mental health advocates by equipping them with strategies to listen and respond to the pain of the men they see in their chairs.

Trymaine Lee talks to the founder of The Confess Project, Lorenzo Lewis; and Louisville barber J. Divine Alexander breaks down how the program has helped him support his clients, and, been good for his own mental health.

For a transcript, please visit https://www.msnbc.com/intoamerica.

Thoughts? Feedback? Story ideas? Write to us at [email protected]

Further Reading and Listening:

Next Episode

Can You Hear Us Now? One Year Later

Since the murder of George Floyd on May 25th 2020, America has been reeling from the shock of that initial violent act and the anguish that sent thousands into the streets in protest across the country.

And when those guilty verdicts were delivered, some were brought to tears that a black family had finally tasted something close to justice. But one verdict does little to untether America from its roots, some four hundred years deep and growing.

Have the past year of protests and the push for reform bent America any closer toward justice for all? Or does justice remain a dream deferred for black America?

I set out to answer those questions in a series of conversations with thinkers, doers, activists and policymakers who know intimately where we’ve been and perhaps where we’re headed. Panelists include:

Jelani Cobb, staff writer at The New Yorker and NBC News contributor
Anna Deavere Smith, an actress, professor, and playwright who created a Tony nominated one woman show about the 1992 Los Angeles riots
Representative Mondaire Jones, freshman Democratic Congressman who represents New York's 17th Congressional District
Carmen Best, former Seattle police chief and NBC News law enforcement analyst
Marlon Petersen, host of the Decarcerated podcast and author of Bird Uncaged and Abolitionist Freedom Song
Trayvon Free, writer, director and comedian
Lee Merritt, civil rights attorney
Dr. Sandy Darity, the Samuel DuBois Cook Professor at Duke University
Amanda Seales, comedian and creator of Smart, Funny and Black
Martin Luther King II, the eldest son of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and a human and civil rights advocate

We hope you enjoy these conversations from Trymaine Lee’s NBC News Now special Can You Hear Us Now? One Year Later.

For a transcript, please visit https://www.msnbc.com/intoamerica.

Thoughts? Feedback? Story ideas? Write to us at [email protected]

Further Viewing and Listening: