Thread by @Reuters

Bettye and Robert Freeman were in their Boston living room when they heard chanting outside. As they opened the front door, they saw the protesters.

It was June 4, 2020, 10 days after the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police reut.rs/3oJ1Vdo 1/6

.@brian_photog’s image shows two faces flooded with pain, pride, sadness and strength.

‘It was a passing of the torch,’ Bettye, a retired lawyer whose father was the first Black mayor of Montclair, New Jersey, told @Reuters in the run-up to the anniversary of Floyd’s death 2/6

Two days after the Freemans raised their fists, 16-year-old Bethel Boateng was in Denver yelling, ‘I can’t breathe!’ into a bullhorn.

‘In that moment, on that day, I felt like I was on top of the world,’ Boateng said 3/6

Aaron Xavier Wilson was just tired. He attended a protest on the Washington Mall.

Wilson’s sign reads: ‘I AM A MAN.’ In 1968, striking Black sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee, carried signs with that message as they demanded better safety standards and wages 4/6

‘I wanted to show that there is a continuity in this struggle and that the core friction points have not been resolved,’ Wilson said.

‘This core issue of our humanity and our worth was still a point of contention.’ 5/6

More reflection one year after the death of George Floyd reut.rs/3oJ1Vdo 6/6