May 25, 2020, was when George Floyd unfortunately passed away. On that date, I was in my late 30s. It was a time of growth for the new generation of the Black Freedom Movement. It saw the end of the first stage of the Black Lives Matter movement, and we entered a new era of not only the Black Lives Matter movement. It was a new era in world history and black history, marked by an explosion of outrage and righteous indignation as people stood up for the dignity of black human lives. George Floyd was 46 years old in Minneapolis, Minnesota, living his life and providing for his family. He was arrested shortly after 8pm after being allegedly accused of using a fake $20 bill at a local Cup Foods store. There was a disturbing cellphone video that was later posted on Facebook. It displayed the last moments of his life. An officer pinned George Floyd to the ground with his knee on the back of Floyd's neck. He was unarmed and handcuffed. He was never a threat to any officer or anyone else in the vicinity, but the officers would get off his neck for more than 8 minutes. George Floyd said, "I can't breathe," but the officers, including Derek Chauvin, didn't care. People in the crowd tried to tell Chauvin to stop putting his knee on George Floyd's neck constantly without avail. George Floyd later went unconscious, and he died at a hospital. The video went viral, and America, plus the world, saw the truth of what had happened.
On May 26, 2020, civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump said that he is representing Floyd's family and "will seek justice." The four officers involved in Floyd's death were fired. Demonstrators gather at the Third Precinct, and the site of the incident starts to be the beginning of the first night of protests in Minneapolis. By May 27, 2020, protests spread to other cities like Los Angeles, Memphis, etc., showing people expressing legitimate outrage over the death of George Floyd. In Minneapolis, peaceful protests existed. Some demonstrators have turned violent as fires and looting break out. The police attempt to disperse crowds with rubber bullets and tear gas. I agree with peaceful protests, civil disobedience, and self-defense. Yet, I don't agree with destruction of innocent property as it's socially self-defeating, it's morally wrong, and it allows the state to pass even more anti-liberty and restrictive laws against the people. By May 28, 2020, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed an executive order to activate the Minnesota National Guard. Other governors do the same thing in other states, too. May 29, 2020, was when Derek Chauvin was arrested and charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in Floyd's death. If convicted, maximum penalties for all of the charges are severe -- 40 years in prison for second-degree murder, 25 years for third-degree, and 10 years for the manslaughter charge. But presiding Judge Peter Cahill is required by Minnesota law to follow sentencing guidelines. Under these, the penalty for both second-degree unintentional murder and third-degree is about 10 to 15 years. For the manslaughter charge, the common sentence under the guidelines is four years. Benjamin Crump released a statement from George Floyd's family about the arrest on Twitter.
Governor Walz issued a curfew for the entire Twin Cities. Most of the protests were peaceful. Some demonstrators have used violence and looting, which I don't endorse. President Donald Trump in that day tweeted an evil, provocative tweet saying that, "when the looting starts, the shooting starts." Twitter flags the tweet, saying it violates its rules about "glorifying violence." On May 31, 2020, Walz announced that state Attorney General Keith Ellison will take over prosecutions in Floyd's death from the county prosecutor. Thousands protest peacefully across the country, though some demonstrations continue to be marred by acts of vandalism and clashes with police, including near the White House. By June 1, 2020, we are at the start of the largest anti-racism and anti-police brutality protests in favor of black human lives in all of human history. It was that historic as 2020 is one of the most important years in human history (like 1968, like 2001, like 1945, like 1865, etc.).
On June 1, 2025, there autopsy of George Floyd was revealed. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s autopsy report found that the 46-year-old Floyd died of a combination of causes including “cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression” and that his system showed “fentanyl intoxication; recent methamphetamine use.” The ME called the manner of death “homicide,” but goes on in the report to state that this “is not a legal determination of culpability or intent.” Floyd's legal team says an independent autopsy determined that his death was a homicide caused by asphyxia "due to neck and back compression that led to a lack of blood flow to the brain." On June 2, Floyd family Crump derides the Medical Examiner’s report attacking its inclusion of toxicology results: “The cause of death was that he was starving for air. It was lack of oxygen. And so everything else is a red herring to try to throw us off." That same day, Ellison tells SiriusXM's "The Joe Madison Show" that he is "very seriously looking" at prosecuting the other officers in the case, but that the process could take months.
On June 2, 2020, Minnesota's Department of Human Rights files a civil rights charge related to Floyd's death and launched an investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department. Officials announce the investigation will examine the "policies, procedures, and practices over the past 10 years" to determine if the police department "has engaged in systemic discriminatory practices towards people of color and ensure any such practices are stopped." On June 3, 2020, the other three officers involved in the incident are charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter, both felonies, court records show. Chauvin also received an additional second-degree murder charge, a felony, according to court records. On June 7, 2020, another historic event took place. This was when Minneapolis City Council members announced their intent to disband the city's police department in favor of a more community-oriented agency. "Our commitment is to end our city's toxic relationship with the Minneapolis Police Department, to end policing as we know it and to recreate systems of public safety that actually keep us safe," City Council President Lisa Bender said at a rally.
By June 8, 2020, Congressional Democrats introduced a sweeping police misconduct reform bill, called the Justice In Policing Act, that would look to demilitarize the police and address police brutality. Measures include banning chokeholds and no-knock warrants. While the Democrat-controlled House later approved the bill, the then-Republican-controlled Senate voted it down.
The same day as the legislation is introduced, thousands of mourners turn out in Houston, Floyd's hometown, for a public viewing of Floyd ahead of his funeral. Among those in attendance are former Vice President Joe Biden and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. On June 9, 2020, thousands of people gathered for Floyd's final funeral service. Dignitaries in attendance include the Rev. Al Sharpton, U.S. Rep. Al Green, actor Jamie Foxx, and Houston Texans player J.J. Watt. Biden also speaks via video, calling for change for Black Americans. George Floyd was laid to rest in Houston, Texas. On June 10, 2020, Floyd's brother, Philonise, testified before Congress during a hearing on police brutality. In a powerful opening statement, he calls on lawmakers to make law enforcement "part of the solution, not the problem," so his brother's death isn't in vain. On June 29, 2020, the four fired Minneapolis police officers criminally charged in the death of Floyd appear before a judge for back-to-back pre-trial hearings attended by Floyd's aunt and uncle. Judge Peter Cahill also instructs both prosecutors and defense attorneys to limit pre-trial publicity about the case. Thao's attorney, Robert Paule, says in court that he is considering a motion for a change of venue due to what he describes as prejudicial pre-trial publicity.
On September 18, 2020, the Minneapolis City Council unanimously votes to rename the intersection of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue, near the spot of Floyd's fatal arrest, "George Floyd Square."
The Haitian Earthquake started in many phases. It was one of the most destructive earthquakes in the Western Hemisphere in the modern age. There were previous ones in 1770, in 1946, etc. So, Haiti has experienced natural disasters for a long time. Previously, Haiti experienced Tropical Storm Fay and the Hurricanes Gustav, Hanna, and Ike, all in the summer of 2008, causing nearly 800 people to be killed. The earthquake in 2010 in Haiti had a magnitude of 7.0M inland on January 12, 2010. It happened about 16 miles WSW from Port-au-Prince. It happened on the blind thrust faults associated with the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault system and lasted for less than 30 seconds.
There is no evidence of surface rupture based on seismological, geological, and ground deformation data. It is also thought that the earthquake did not involve significant lateral slip on the main Enriquillo fault. Strong shaking associated with intensity IX on the Modified Mercalli scale (MM) was recorded in Port-au-Prince and its suburbs. It was also felt in several surrounding countries and regions, including Cuba (MM III in Guantánamo), Jamaica (MM II in Kingston), Venezuela (MM II in Caracas), Puerto Rico (MM II–III in San Juan), and the bordering Dominican Republic (MM III in Santo Domingo). According to estimates from the U.S. Geological Survey, approximately 3.5 million people lived in the area that experienced shaking intensity of MM VII to X, a range that can cause moderate to very heavy damage even to earthquake-resistant structures. Shaking damage was more severe than for other quakes of similar magnitude due to the quake's shallow depth.
The quake occurred in the vicinity of the northern boundary where the Caribbean tectonic plate shifts eastwards by about 20 mm (0.79 in) per year in relation to the North American plate. The strike-slip fault system in the region has two branches in Haiti, the Septentrional-Oriente fault in the north and the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault in the south; both its location and focal mechanism suggested that the January 2010 quake was caused by a rupture of the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault, which had been locked for 250 years, gathering stress. However, a study published in May 2010 suggested that the rupture process may have involved slip on multiple blind thrust faults with only minor, deep, lateral slip along or near the main Enriquillo–Plantain Garden fault zone, suggesting that the event only partially relieved centuries of accumulated left-lateral strain on a small part of the plate-boundary system. The rupture was roughly 65 km (40 mi) long with mean slip of 1.8 metres (5 ft 11 in). Preliminary analysis of the slip distribution found amplitudes of up to about 4 m (13 ft) using ground motion records from all over the world.
The U.S. Geological Survey recorded eight aftershocks in the two hours after the main earthquake, with magnitudes between 4.3 and 5.9. Within the first nine hours, 32 aftershocks of magnitude 4.2 or greater were recorded, 12 of which measured magnitude 5.0 or greater; in addition, on January 24, the US Geological Survey reported that there had been 52 aftershocks measuring 4.5 or greater since the main quake. On January 20, at 06:03 local time (11:03 UTC), the strongest aftershock since the earthquake, measuring magnitude 5.9 Mw, struck Haiti. USGS reported its epicenter was about 56 km (35 mi) WSW of Port-au-Prince, which would place it almost exactly under the coastal town of Petit-Goâve. A UN representative reported that the aftershock collapsed seven buildings in the town. According to staff of the International Committee of the Red Cross, which had reached Petit-Goâve for the first time the day before the aftershock, the town was estimated to have lost 15% of its buildings and was suffering the same shortages of supplies and medical care as the capital. Workers from the charity Save the Children reported hearing "already weakened structures collapsing" in Port-au-Prince, but most sources reported no further significant damage to infrastructure in the city. Further casualties are thought to have been minimal since people had been sleeping in the open. There are concerns that the main earthquake could be the beginning of a new long-term sequence. Although not precise, it is suggested that there has been a sequence of quakes progressing westwards along the fault, starting with an earthquake in the Dominican Republic in 1751.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning immediately after the initial quake but quickly cancelled it. Nearly two weeks later, it was reported that the beach of the small fishing town of Petit Paradis was hit by a localized tsunami shortly after the earthquake, probably as a result of an underwater landslide, and this was later confirmed by researchers. At least three people were swept out to sea by the wave and were reported dead. Witnesses told reporters that the sea first retreated, and a "very big wave" followed rapidly, crashing ashore and sweeping boats and debris into the ocean. The tsunami reached heights up to 3 m (9.8 ft).
The album of Cowboy Carter from Beyoncé was her eighth studio album. It was released on March 29, 2024, via Parkwood Entertainment and Columbia Records. It changed country music forever, filled with excitement, debate, and a new sense of realizing the black contributions to country music in general. Now, you have people across the world wearing cowboy hats and cowboy boots to not only celebrate Beyoncé. They want to affirm that country music culture doesn't just belong with white rural people. It also belongs to all people globally, irrespective of color, background, sex, gender, creed, or zipcode. Cowboy Carter was her 2nd album of her planned trilogy of albums after Renaissance was released in 2022. Beyonce dealt with a reinvention of Americana, showing the black pioneers of musical history and to show country music, country pop, outlaw country, western pop, Jersey, and other genres of music. Many people contributed to the album like Shaboozey, Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy, Reyna Roberts, and Willie Jones (including Dolly Parton, Linda Martell, and Willie Nelson acting as disc jockeys). The album has R&B, zydeco, rock and roll, hip hop, bluegrass, etc.
The music is driven by a range of acoustic instruments played by musicians including Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, Nile Rodgers, Gary Clark Jr., Adam Granduciel, Robert Randolph, Jon Batiste, and Rhiannon Giddens. The album has been met with universal acclaim and appeared on multiple year-end lists. It is an experimental album showing conversations about culture and music that has been powerful. Similar to Garth Brooks back in the day, Beyonce's country music album increased the popularity of Western wear and culture. At the 67th Annual Grammy Awards, Cowboy Carter made Beyoncé the first Black artist to win Best Country Album and the first Black woman since Lauryn Hill in 1999 to win Album of the Year; its single "II Most Wanted" won Best Country Duo/Group Performance. Cowboy Carter debuted at number one in many countries and broke multiple chart and streaming records. In America, Cowboy Carter became Beyoncé's eighth consecutive number one album on the Billboard 200 and the first album by a Black woman to top the Top Country Albums chart. The album was supported by three singles, "Texas Hold 'Em", "16 Carriages", and "II Most Wanted", with the first becoming Beyoncé's ninth U.S. number one single and the first country song by a Black woman to top the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Country Songs charts. The Cowboy Carter Tour began on April 28, 2025.
Cowboy Carter landed Beyoncé her biggest streaming week ever and broke streaming records on several platforms. On Spotify, the album became one of the most-streamed albums in a single day in 2024, the biggest debut of the year for a country album, and the biggest debut ever for any album by a Black woman, with over 76 million streams globally in its first day. Cowboy Carter also marks the most first-day streams for a country album by a female artist in the history of Amazon Music.
Cowboy Carter also broke several chart records. In the United States, Cowboy Carter debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, with 407,000 album-equivalent units. In doing so, Beyoncé became the first woman and second artist overall to debut her first eight albums at number one. Cowboy Carter debuted at number one on the Americana/Folk Albums, and Top Country Albums charts, making Beyoncé the first Black woman to have a number-one country album. The album remained atop the Billboard 200 for two weeks, her first multi-week number one since 2013's Beyoncé. All 23 eligible songs on Cowboy Carter debuted on the Billboard Hot 100, giving African-American country artists Martell, Adell, Kennedy, Roberts, Spencer, Jones and Shaboozey their first chart entries and bringing Beyoncé's career total Hot 100 entries to 106, the third highest for a female artist. Beyoncé also topped eighteen Billboard charts the week of Cowboy Carter's release, including the Artist 100, Hot 100 Songwriters and Hot 100 Producers; she also became the first artist to simultaneously hold the number one positions on both the Top Country Albums and the Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums charts, with Renaissance atop the latter. Cowboy Carter has spent over 50 weeks on the Billboard 200, making Beyoncé the sole record holder for the most studio albums by a Black woman to chart 50 or more weeks, surpassing Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey with a total of eight.
One of the greatest museums of the 21st century is the International African American Museum. It is located in the South in Charleston, South Carolina. Charleston has a long history involving us black Americans and other human beings of the black African Diaspora. Charleston is where about 40 percent of the nation's enslaved people disembarked. It opened on June 27, 2023, after 20 years of planning. It is located on 14 Wharfside Street in the city, and its President is Dr. Tonya M. Matthews. The museum was conceived by former Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. The city previously sold the land to a restaurateur. After construction on the site, people found traces of Gadsden's Wharf. Riley then decided to repurchase the land. The construction budget of the museum was $75 million. Riley raised money for the project as a private citizen.
The $25 million private donation goal was met in 2018. The South Carolina General Assembly delayed a $25 million contribution to the project. That delayed the construction of the 40,000 square foot facility. The city of North Charleston donated 1 million dollars to the project. Keith Sumney, the mayor of North Charleston, said that he wanted the museum to have an exhibit on Liberty Hill, a historically black neighborhood in North Charleston. The design architect is Harry Cobb, of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, working in collaboration with Moody Nolan architectural firm of Columbus, Ohio; the exhibition designer is Ralph Appelbaum Associates, and the landscape designer is Walter Hood, of Oakland, California. The museum was built on the Cooper River, with a view towards Fort Sumter and out to the Atlantic Ocean. Its first CEO was Michael B. Moore. The museum opened in 2023 with presentations made at the dedication ceremony by former Charleston mayors Joseph P. Riley Jr and John Tecklenburg, Phylicia Rashad, Congressman Jim Clyburn, State Senator Darrell Jackson, State Representative JA Moore, gospel singer Bebe Winans, poet Nikky Finney, anthropologist Johnnetta Cole, former NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, IAAM President Dr. Tonya Matthews and others
My late paternal 3rd cousin Lola Satchell has a long history. She lived from May 29, 1923, to January 13, 1999. She was born in Northampton, Virginia, which is found in the Eastern Shore of Virginia. She married Ollie D. Kates (b. 1918-1989) on January 12, 1940, at Birdsnet, Virginia. Their children are Gloria E. Kates (b. 1941), Ester Lee Kates Crumbley (1941-2006. She married James L. Crumbley, who lived from 1943 to 2007), Levin Nathaniel Kates (b. 1954), and Ollie M. Kates Jr. (b. 1944). My fourth cousin Gloria Elizabeth Kates lived from June 10, 1940, to August 10, 2011 (in Nassawdox, Virginia being in the Virginian Eastern Shore). Gloria Elizabeth Kates married James Leroy Johnson (b. 1937), and they had many children who are: Christa Ann Johnson (b. 1963), Alicia Mae Johnson Richardson (b. 1976), James Johnson Jr., and Tony Johnson. Christa Ann Johnson married Ronald Donovan Church (b. 1959) on November 30, 1987, at Northampton County, Virginia. They divorced in 1995. Alicia Mae Johnson Richardson married Zachary Troy Richardson on June 11, 2005, at Northampton County, Virginia.
By Timothy
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