Darnella Frazier

Darnella Frazier was born on July 18, 2003, and grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota. On the evening of May 25, 2020, the then-17-year-old was walking to Cup Foods, a convenience store at the corner of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue, with her nine-year-old cousin when she witnessed Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on the neck of George Floyd ^[1]. Frazier pulled out her cellphone and began recording, capturing nearly ten minutes of footage that would become one of the most consequential videos in American history.

The video went viral within hours, sparking worldwide protests against police brutality and racial injustice. It became the central piece of evidence in the criminal trial of Derek Chauvin, played repeatedly throughout the proceedings ^[2]. Without Frazier's footage, it is widely acknowledged that Chauvin may never have been charged, let alone convicted.

Frazier testified during the second day of Chauvin's trial in March 2021, giving emotional testimony while weeping and speaking barely above a whisper. She told the court that she sometimes lies awake at night apologizing to Floyd for not doing more to help him ^[3]. The experience left deep scars: Frazier has spoken about suffering from anxiety attacks, depression, and social anxiety in the aftermath of what she witnessed. "Behind this smile, behind these awards, behind the publicity, I'm a girl trying to heal from something I am reminded of every day," she wrote on the first anniversary of Floyd's death ^[4].

In June 2021, the Pulitzer Prize Board awarded Frazier a special citation for "courageously recording the murder of George Floyd, a video that spurred protests against police brutality around the world, highlighting the crucial role of citizens in journalists' quest for truth and justice" ^[5]. It was the first time in the Pulitzer's more than 100-year history that the board recognized an act of citizen journalism. Frazier's courage at 17 — choosing to bear witness when every instinct told her to look away — changed the course of American justice and demonstrated the extraordinary power of ordinary citizens to hold institutions accountable ^[6].