What Went Down On The First Night Of The Democratic National Convention

I think it’s notable that George Floyd’s family is participating here. The Democratic Party has really embraced this racial justice movement in the last months — and that doesn’t feel inevitable. The party has kind of embraced both having the older white male candidate and this very aggressive, bold racial movement at the same time.

I’ll be honest, my least favorite part of the 2016 conventions were the parties brought out families who’ve dealt with personal tragedy that somehow tied into a political theme — often, those people were scheduled to speak before prime time, and people would mill around the convention floor and not pay attention to what they were saying, which just felt incredibly callous and terrible. George Floyd’s family being on your TV means you can’t look away and, obviously, it’s a reminder of the tenor of this particular campaign. Which is pretty pervasively dark. The tragedy is prime time now, metaphorically and literally.

George Floyd’s brother calling for a moment of silence for those whose murders “didn’t go viral.”