The anguish and power of the George Floyd protests, in photos

People protesting after George Floyd's murder
Protesters in Minneapolis on May 28, 2020. [Photo by Mark Vancleave/Star Tribune via Getty Images]
Impact

Tuesday, May 25, marks the one-year anniversary of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of the Minneapolis police. Over the past 12 months, his death has served as a rallying cry for countless racial and social justice movements not only in the United States, but around the world. Here, Mic explores how inequality and injustice were brought to the fore in the wake of his killing.

Anguish is a powerful feeling. It can be overwhelming internally; it can dominate your thoughts and actions. When you're feeling so strongly, it can be hard to do much else. But oftentimes, in a country so obsessed with appearances of strength and decorum, anguish can be invisible. What's going on inside rarely spills out into the open — instead that energy is kept locked inside, channeled into socially acceptable virtues like "productivity" and "hustle."

That changed on May 25, 2020. After years of peaceful, persistent action by Black and brown activists — who were simply demanding that their right to exist be respected — the murder of George Floyd stripped away all pretenses. If a Minneapolis police officer could look a 17-year-old in the eyes as she filmed him killing a man in broad daylight on a crowded street, then the people could rise up, uninhibited, against him. They could be rude and forceful and passionate and crass and tearful and, yes, anguished in their calls for justice.

It's been exactly one year since Floyd was murdered by Derek Chauvin. It's hard to gauge, really, how much has changed since then. But when the history is written, May 25, 2020, will loom large as a day when America awakened, or perhaps reawakened, to its most insidious traits. Mic has rounded up some of the most powerful photos from the protests that broke out in the week after Floyd's murder. Take a look below — and let the images remind you that there is still much work left to be done.

A protester is doused with milk after exposure to tear gas in Minneapolis on May 27, 2020. [Photo by Carlos Gonzalez/Star Tribune via Getty Images]
Harina Yacob, 26, protesting in downtown Los Angeles on May 27, 2020. [Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images]
A young man wiped tears from his eyes as Gwen Carr, the mother of Eric Garner, spoke at the site where Floyd was killed in Minneapolis. Rev. Al Sharpton was listen to her standing next to her as she spoke on May 28, 2020. [Photo by Jerry Holt/Star Tribune via Getty Images]
Signs stapled to a light pole neart at 38th Street and Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis, as seen on May 28, 2020. [John Autey / MediaNews Group / St. Paul Pioneer Press via Getty Images]
Protesters outside the Colorado State Capitol in Denver on May 28, 2020. [Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post]
A protester confronts a police officer in New York City on May 28, 2020. [Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images]
Protesters in Minneapolis on May 28, 2020. [Photo by Elizabeth Floresi/Star Tribune via Getty Images]
Protesters in Columbus, Ohio, gathered near the Ohio Statehouse on May 28, 2020. [Photo by Matthew Hatcher/Getty Images]
A protester in Brooklyn, New York, holds flowers above his head during a protest on May 29, 2020. [Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images]
Demonstrators surround a police car along the Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 29, 2020. [Photo by BRIDGET BENNETT/AFP via Getty Images]
A man holds his hands up in front of police during a protest in Oakland, California, on May 29, 2020. [Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]
A Minnesota National Guard soldier encounters protesters in Minneapolis on May 29, 2020. [Photo by KEREM YUCEL/AFP via Getty Images]
Protesters smash a police car in Atlanta, Georgia, on May 29, 2020. [Photo by Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images]
Protesters in Detroit, Michigan, on May 29, 2020. [Photo by Matthew Hatcher/Getty Images]
A man protests in front of police in Los Angeles on May 29, 2020, re-enacting the position Floyd was held in by Chauvin and holding a sign that says "I can't breathe." [Photo by Apu Gomes/Getty Images]
People protest outside the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta on May 29, 2020. [Photo by Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images]
Protesters march outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on May 29, 2020. [Photo by ERIC BARADAT/AFP via Getty Images]
A man holds up a U.S. flag during a protest in Charlotte, North Carolina, on May 29, 2020. [Photo by LOGAN CYRUS/AFP via Getty Images]