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The Pulitzer-winning co-author of this distinguished biography reveals the systemic racism that shaped George Floyd's life and how his tragic experience brought about a global movement for change.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Toluse Olorunnipa is the White House bureau chief of The Washington Post, and the co-author of "His Name is George Floyd." He joined the Post in 2019 and has covered the last three presidents. Previously, he spent five years at Bloomberg News, where he reported on politics and policy from Washington and Florida. Olorunnipa reported from five continents and more than 20 countries as part of the presidential press corps. He started his career at the Miami Herald, where he covered real estate, natural disasters and crime -- sometimes all at once.
ABOUT THE BOOK
A National Book Award finalist. "The events of that day are now tragically familiar: on May 25, 2020, George Floyd became the latest Black person to die at the hands of the police, murdered outside of a Minneapolis convenience store by white officer Derek Chauvin. The video recording of his death set off the largest protest movement in the history of the United States, awakening millions to the pervasiveness of racial injustice. But long before his face was painted onto countless murals and his name became synonymous with civil rights, Floyd was a father, partner, athlete, and friend who constantly strove for a better life.
'His Name Is George Floyd' tells the story of a beloved figure from Houston’s housing projects as he faced the stifling systemic pressures that come with being a Black man in America. Placing his narrative within the context of the country’s enduring legacy of institutional racism, this deeply reported account examines Floyd’s family roots in slavery and sharecropping, the segregation of his schools, the overpolicing of his community amid a wave of mass incarceration, and the callous disregard toward his struggle with addiction—putting today’s inequality into uniquely human terms. Drawing upon hundreds of interviews with Floyd’s closest friends and family, his elementary school teachers and varsity coaches, civil rights icons, and those in the highest seats of political power, Washington Post reporters Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa offer a poignant and moving exploration of George Floyd’s America, revealing how a man who simply wanted to breathe ended up touching the world."
“It is a testament to the power of His Name Is George Floyd that the book’s most vital moments come not after Floyd’s death, but in its intimate, unvarnished and scrupulous account of his life . . . Impressive.”—New York Times Book Review
ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNER
Jon Fortt is co-anchor of CNBC’s bi-coastal tech-focused program “TechCheck” (M-F, 11AM-12PM ET/8AM-9AM PT); and creator of the weekly segments, “On the Other Hand” on “Squawk Box” and “Working Lunch” on “Power Lunch.” Previously, he co-anchored CNBC’s “Squawk Alley” and prior served as an on-air editor based at CNBC’s global headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J. Fortt joined CNBC as technology correspondent in July 2010, working from CNBC’s Silicon Valley bureau where he covered the companies, start-ups and trends that are driving innovation in the industry.
