Hello, Bird Feed. I'm Vanessa A.B., this is United States at Carni Affairs and your host for this week's episode.

2020 has been a really turbulent year for the United States between the global pandemic and the constant barrage of disturbing news that has come to define the last four years.

Then, on May 25th, police killed George Floyd in Minneapolis,

sparking massive, decentralized protests against racism and police brutality, not just in the Midwest,

but virtually in every single state. If you had the misfortune of being active on Twitter this

summer, like I was, then you saw countless recordings of American

police meeting protesters with unspeakable violence. You saw them tear-gast and rushed peaceful

demonstrations. You saw them attack journalists on air and yank passers by off their bikes to beat them

silly. You saw them push down a septuagenarian and

marched past him in riot gear as the old men bled on the ground. You saw the very repression

being protested again and again and again. Nevertheless, the movement persisted. It even jumped borders.

From Sao Polo to Tokyo, Brussels to Johannesburg, protesters shut down roads and took down

statues of violent imperialists.

They gathered in plazas and in front of U.S. embassies.

They carried Black Lives Matters sign. Some honored George Floyd's name,

others yet brought the name of their own fallen, all within a day of each other.

In Paris, the French Malian activist Assetraure recorded a video that she posted on social media

on May 31st, urging people to meet her

in front of the Tribunal of Paris on June 2nd.

Almost four years earlier, her younger brother, Adama, had been killed by French police

during an arrest.

And according to one of the three police officers involved, at one point, all three of the officers

...