The teen who used her cellphone to record former Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin murdering George Floyd last year received a special citation Friday from the Pulitzer Prize Board for her “tran♊sformative” foot📖age seen around the world.
Darnella Frazier, then 17, she was having a “normal” day May 25, 2020, while walking with her cousin to a corner store — before witnessing and taping Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for more than 9 minutes. The then-cop killed the handcuffed black man, who had been accused of trying to pass a counterfeit bill.
༺Mindy Marqués, co-chair of the Pulitzer board, announcing its annual awards that 2020 was “unlike any other in the history of journalism,” citing the global pandemic, a “racial reckoning” and the bitter November US presidential election.
“T💃he Floyd story in particular highlighted not only the essential role of journalists, but the increasing importance of ordinary citizens in the quest for truth and justice,” Marqués said during the 2021 prize announcement before noting Frazier’s special citation𝄹.
Marqués said the 18-year-old woman’s harrowing cellphone footage “jolted viewers and spurred protests” against police brutality, beginning in Minneapolis and quickly spreading across the US and ultimately worldwide.
Frazier’s — noted at the end of Friday’s announcement marking the board’s 105th year of the prizes in journalism, books, drama and music — applauded the teen for “courageously recording” Floyd’s murder.
The viral footage Frazier posted to Facebook highlighted the “crucial r𒀰ole of citizens in journalist’s quest for truth and justice,” the Pulitzer Prize Board said.
The 10-minute videoᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ Frazier recorded is but has a “sensitive content” warning on it.
“They killed him righ♑t in front of cup foods over s🐟outh on 38th and Chicago!!” Frazier wrote in the history-altering post alongside two broken-heart emojis. “No type of sympathy #POLICEBRUTALITY”
Prosecutors are seeking a 30-year prison sentence for Chauvin, who was convicted in April of murdering Floyd. The former cop’s seꦜntencing is set for June 25.
Frazier, who broke down in court while testifying at Chauvin’s trial, recalled the day that forever✨ changed her life on the one-year anniversary of Floyd’s murde🤡r in May.
“I was only 17 at the time, just a normal day for me walking my 9-year-old cousin to the corner store, not even prepared for what I was about to see, not even knowing my life was going to change on this exact day in those exact moments … it did,” Frazier . “It changed me. It changed how I viewed life. It made me realize how dangerous it is to be Black in America.”
Frazier said 𒁃the “weight and trauma” of witnessing Floyd’s police-custody killing had stayed with her a year later.
“It’s a little easier now, but I’m not who I used to be,” Frazier wrote on May 25. “A part of my c𝓀hildhood was taken from me.”
The National Association of Black Journalists praised Frazier for her Pulitzer award, that she “helped change the world.”
Frazier and her publicist did not immediately respond to messages 🥀seeking comment frꦰom The Post on Friday.