Give the Kid the Nobel Peace Prize

Darnella Frazier deserves at least that for her nine minutes and 29 seconds that changed the world

Darnella Frazier doesn’t want the credit, but she clearly changed the world.

The then 17-year-old stood on the corner of Chicago Avenue and East 38th Street in South Minneapolis last May and watched Derek Chauvin extinguish George Floyd’s life through the eye of her cellphone camera. She steadfastly held her ground, recording for close to 10 minutes, while Floyd pleaded for his life and angry bystanders called for the cop to take his knee off the neck of a man who was already handcuffed and lying prone, clearly in agony on the Minneapolis street.

The police threatened Darnella and the other witnesses with Mace if they didn’t cease and desist. Darnella stood strong and her video, released in the media later that evening, challenged the course of racial injustice. Chauvin, guilty pig that he is, was jailed on Wednesday, after being found guilty on three counts in Floyd’s death.

The Minneapolis streets, and avenues across this country, weren’t quiet after the jury rendered its verdict — far from it. Cheers, tears, music and joy erupted in front of Cup Foods, where Floyd drew his last breaths. Bands broke out their instruments. Harmony reigned among the singers, the dancers, the crowds in puffy winter jackets clearly overcome with the sweet sounds of triumph and pride that punctuated the chilly, late-spring air with their choruses of harmony way into the night.

Peace ruled supreme because of the actions of a teenager. And that teen, Darnella Frazier, deserves the ultimate award for her actions.

Without the video, you see, the outcome in the Chauvin trial could have been so much different. In the wake of George Floyd’s death, the Minneapolis Police Department played their go-to trope — cover up at all costs.

“Man Dies After Medical Incident During Police Interaction”, read the headline on that first MPD press release. The body of that text continued in the same vein: After yammering for a while about “forgery” and a suspect possibly being “under the influence”, the statement said, “Officers were able to get the suspect into handcuffs and noted he [Floyd] appeared to be suffering medical distress”.

You think? I do. George Floyd was clearly in “distress” because that cop was kneeling. On his neck. And choking the precious life out of him. If Darnella’s nine minute, 29 second video doesn’t make those facts clear, nothing ever will.

Yes, teenagers are an enigma. I can tell you after 23 years in the trenches as an English teacher at a suburban D.C. high school that they are still learning how to be adults. These young men and women have a lot of growing up to do, especially on the emotional scale of one to about a million. Psychologists tell us that teens Darnella’s age do not yet have a fully formed frontal lobe. That’s the reason for so much of their impulsive behavior, of the good, and often bad, variety.

But largely because of their lack of experience out in this cruel, cruel world, teens are also the purest reflection of what should be right. No matter their faith — they take the Golden Rule seriously. This sentiment, learned by most of us in kindergarten, is not complicated. It dates back to ancient times, and has been a key construct of human behavior for thousands of years. In the Christian faith, the Golden Rule is embodied in Jesus’ Second Commandment and mentioned several times in the Bible, including in His “Sermon on the Mount”.

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. The 11 words we all learned as children about doing the right thing.

Unlike some of the adults in the Minneapolis Police Department, Darnella Frazier knows right from wrong. She saw an injustice taking place, and decided to right that wrong. Without Darnella’s video, there would be no justice. Without Darnella’s courage, there could be no peace.

This brave young woman — now 18— has already been honored by director Spike Lee and by Dr. Martin Luther King’s daughter, Bernice King, CEO of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change. U.S. Senator Tim Kaine called for Darnella to receive the Pulitzer Prize for documenting a grave injustice and precipitating real change in this country’s ongoing racial justice struggle.

“The sad thing is if it hadn’t been for that 17-year-old girl Darnella, it would have been another Black man, that was killed by the police, his own fault, and they would have said, ‘Oh, it was drugs, oh it was this’,’’ said Floyd’s aunt, Angela Harrelson, “and we would never have had the story we would have and wouldn’t be here today talking.”

I don’t know the nomination process for a Nobel. I do know that someone way above my pay grade has to bring possible recipients to the notice of the Norwegian Nobel Committee. Darnella Frazier’s fortitude should be honored on the world stage; her decision to stand up and speak truth to power should be recognized by this prestigious body. Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai — then 17 herself — now stands as the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. Darnella Frazier should join Malala at that prestigious podium.

Darnella turned the power structure on its head and showed us a way through the metaphorical wilderness of injustice we continue to face in this country. The Old Testament says it best: “And a little child shall lead them”.

Out of the wilderness and toward a new reckoning of peace, honesty and love. And standing up for what is right. I think George Perry Floyd Jr. would agree.