As the George Floyd Murder trial unfolds, white America, in fact all the world, is invited to sit around the kitchen table of Black Americans, listening to their daily lives and observing their humanity.  Viewing the trial, as painful as it is, offers a better understanding of living while Black.  It provides context to Baldwin's message in If Beale Street Could Talk, as well as to the messages of Jesmyn Ward and Isabel Wilkerson.

The testimonies of the people who witnessed the murder of George Floyd give voice to the  fears and intimidations experienced by all African Americans.  Each witness describes, often through tears, the personal fears that leave their homes with them every day. Fears that we have read about, but have not heard or seen as intimately as we can while watching the trial.

The image of Officer Chauvin's knee pressing on George Floyd's neck visually connects to the long history of ropes tightening around black necks and the postcards and Brownie photographs documenting the disregard white America has for Black life.