Trevor Speaks Out About the Murder of George Floyd
This was the first time we met as an Ally Podcast Club after the murder of George Floyd. This was just three days before the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) (now called CHOP or Capitol Hill Organized Protest) came into existence in Seattle and protests were happening in the city nearly every night for more than a week prior. So tensions, emotions, questions, and uncertainty were quite high for this meeting of the podcast club.
It was incredibly hard to pick what to listen to this week because there were SO many options to pick from. We actually ended up using two pieces of media:
The episode of The Daily Show highlighted above. We chose this as the main focus because I felt that Trevor Noah just did a fabulous job putting into words what many were struggling to understand and relate to at the time. His analogy of a series of dominoes tumbling also felt very apt.
This compilation from The Guardian trying to capture some of the hope and solidarity coming out of the protests (rather than the conflict and tension that the news was leaning heavily into). I was unable to watch this without being moved to tears and I know several others were as well.
Suggested discussion questions (if you need something to start the conversation):
What was your reaction to the “weaponization of racism” in the Amy Cooper story?
How much do you think the pressure cooker of Coronavirus contributed to the reaction (or intensity of reaction) to the murder of George Floyd?
Did the broken social contract argument resonate with you? Why or why not?
How did the compilation video from The Guardian make you feel? Was there a scene that stood out most to you?