The 9-year-old who witnessed police kill George Floyd is planning to write a children’s book on her experience to help process the ordeal and fight racism.
Judeah Reynolds’ 17-year-old cousin, Darnella Frazier, filmed the footage of Floyd’s death that has been viewed by millions and sparked nationwide protests against police brutality.
But Reynolds, who is in fourth grade, saw it firsthand as an eyewitness.
“I was a brave girl,” Reynolds, of Minneapolis, told WCCO of seeing the horrific incident unfold. She and her cousin were reportedly on their way to the store to buy candy on May 25 when they saw policemen pulling a man out of his car, later identified as Floyd. In her harrowing eyewitness account, Reynolds recalls seeing “an officer put a knee on his neck.”
Frazier managed to capture the now-viral footage of Floyd pleading for his life before he died, in a move that Reynolds says enacted change, reports KARE 11.
“If we didn’t go that day, they would still keep killing us,” she told the NBC affiliate.
Now Reynolds is planning to inspire change on her own, by writing a children’s book called “My Walk to the Store.” Her project is reportedly inspired by “Cameron Goes to School” — a book on autism by fellow child author Cameron Brundidge that Reynolds read while processing her grief over Floyd’s death.
Reynolds reportedly realized her project was possible after seeing a girl who looked like her in the book.
Her mother, Diane Reynolds, is proud of the budding novelist’s dedication.
“It’s just touched me that my child could be so caring about a matter that most kids would’ve been given up,” Diane told KARE. “She is passionate about justice for George Floyd.”
And the pint-size activist has plenty of community support behind her. Lily Coyle, a publisher with Beaver’s Pond Press, illustrator Darcy Bell-Myers and author Sheletta Brundidge will all be joining forces to help tell Reynolds’ story, reports WCCO.
The group is also helping Reynolds find a permanent home and mental-health counseling in the wake of her traumatic experience, which reportedly still keeps her up at night. A fund-raiser has been set up for Reynolds, who “doesn’t have a permanent place to live,” floating between motel rooms and relatives’ homes with her mom. “Judeah and her mother live in constant hardship and insecurity,” the FundRazr reads.
“Part of wanting to write the book is to help increase her strength and to speak to other children about being strong and courageous,” LaToya Turk, a social advocate for the Reynolds family, told KARE. “For us, that is part of her healing and therapy, to be able to talk about it in a healthy way.”
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July 02, 2020 at 03:14AM
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