Minneapolis Whiteout
Two white women played a crucial role in filming the murder of George Floyd and convicting Derick Chauvin. So why hasn’t America honored them?
The Neiman Lab at Harvard “is dedicated to figuring out where the news is headed in the Internet age,” but only if it fits their narrative.
On May 25, 2020, in Minneapolis, according to the Neiman website, Darnella Frazier (17) was the “lone witness, a high school student and Black teenager with her cell phone camera trained on four police officers and Floyd taking his final breaths.” In news writing, ethnicities usually aren’t included. In a story about a robbery in a newspaper, for example, the reporter would write, “A woman was robbed at a shopping mall.” The reporter wouldn’t write, “A group of white teenagers robbed a Chinese woman at a shopping mall.”
Like most journalism sources, the Lab adheres to a proscribed narrative. Frazier wasn’t a “lone witness” nor the only person to film the final moments of Floyd’s life.
In the screenshot above, four witnesses use cell phones to film Floyd’s death. Which one is the journalist?
Frazier is in the middle, wearing blue pants and a black hoodie. Genevieve Hansen (27) stands to the right of Frazier. Hansen is a trained EMT specialist who had been with the Minneapolis Fire Department for two years. When Hansen arrived on the scene, Floyd was alive. After she explained to the officers that she was an EMT, they made it clear that they weren’t interested in her help.
Alysa Funari (17) is in the left corner, wearing a light-colored tank-top and blue jeans. Her angle arguably provides the best view of Floyd. She would testify in court that she had used her friend’s cell phone that day.
In the right corner, a Black male appears to be filming the incident with a cell phone. Unless I’ve missed something, I see four people filming the same event with cell phones.
At Chauvin’s trial, video footage recorded at the Speed Way gas station across the street from Cup Foods emerged. Frazier and Funari, both 17, appear in the video at the same time. Both are holding cell phones and filming Floyd and the police officers.
The Speed Way video also shows Frazier and her cousin, Judeah Reynolds (9), entering the Cup Foods. Frazier exits the store through the back and then returns outside where police officers have pinned Floyd to the ground.
On the first day of the Chauvin trial, Alisha Olyer (23), a white woman, testified that she filmed seven videos while she was working at the Speed Way. During her testimony, Olyer revealed how she was a high school dropout from Arizona who had previously been homeless. Afterward, she was attacked and ridiculed on social media. As a reminder, Olyer testified against Chauvin which helped secure a conviction.
Alisha Oyler filmed seven videos of George Floyd’s arrest on the day he died | COURT TV
Twitter users felt Olyer’s contributions weren’t good enough. It’s doubtful Olyer is familiar with white privilege. She grew up harder than Frazier. For some, when facts defy the narrative, they omit the facts. US media portrayed Olyer as a dumb white girl when they should have offered sympathy.
What are the differences between the videos made by Frazier, Funari, and Olyer? While Funari was filming Floyd, she shouted at the officers. Frazier remained silent as she filmed Floyd’s death, except for a sound she makes after her cousin asks a question. Olyer filmed her videos off of security camera screens while standing behind a cash register where she worked.
On the second day of Chauvin’s murder trial, the judge called out a woman in the courtroom for taking photos of Frazier. The judge had barred media from entering the courtroom because some of the witnesses who would testify were minors, namely Judeah and Funari. The woman explained she worked in PR and was “managing the media” for Frazier. The judge ordered her to delete the photos from her cell phone.
Frazier went home after Floyd was carried away by an ambulance. She uploaded her video on Facebook, where it went viral, sparking protests worldwide. The video also generated millions in donations for Black Lives Matter (BLM). Roughly one year later, Frazier was awarded a Pulitzer citation which included a $15,000 cash prize. She now sits among past citation winners like Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, and Thelonious Monk, artists possessed by genius. Frazier was also honored by PEN America with the PEN/Benenson Courage Award for actions.
The Star Tribune in Minneapolis was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting in its coverage of the Floyd riots and Chauvin trial.
In 2020, BLM received a record $90 million in donations. George Floyd’s family was awarded $27 million. And a month after Floyd was killed, Frazier’s cousin, Judeah, announced plans to write a series of children’s books.
Today, Funari is a single mother who works as a cashier at a Nike store. It’s unknown if Olyer still works at Speed Way or is homeless.
