To say that George Floyd's murder shook America would be an understatement.

We watched his slow death unfold before our eyes, and we counted the minutes and the seconds

that it took for a disgraced former cop to squeeze his life away, and it ached.

And for nearly all of us, this aching, disturbing spectacle of police violence and black death

was felt from a distance.

Physically, geographically, and for those who don't know or love people like George Floyd

or live in communities like his, it very well could have felt like peering into a far-off

universe, nothing like your own.

In that way, we were all spectators, haunted by what we saw and what we felt, but distance

spectators nonetheless.

There were others who didn't have the privilege of distance.

People who were there in Minneapolis on that terrible day last year, and saw it happen

with their own eyes.

During the trial of Floyd's murderer, Derek Chauvin, we heard from witness after witness

who stood just feet away.

I stayed up apologizing and apologizing.

And to George Floyd for not doing more.

I can feel helpless.

I don't have a mom or either.

I just am.

When you went out there, what did you see?

I saw people yelling and screaming.

...