‘I Just Wanna Live’: Florida Kid Sings Fears Of Black Americans

JACKSONVILLE, FL — When 12-year-old Keedron Bryant of Jacksonville, Florida, raised his clear, strong voice, he sang for other young black men and children across America, where demonstrations are erupting in a call for justice for George Floyd and other black people killed in police custody.

“I’m a young black man, doing all that I can to stand,” Keedron sang on a video posted to Instagram. “Oh, but when I look around and I see what’s being done to my kind every day, I’m being hunted as prey.”

Floyd, a 46-year-old black Minneapolis resident, died May 25, gasping “I can’t breathe” in the final moments of his life as a white police officer held his knee to his neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds, according to video from an onlooker. Floyd was arrested after a deli manager called 911 and accused him of buying cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill.

Floyd’s death was a tipping point, sparking visceral outrage in protests over a string of African American deaths this year, including — black Georgia jogger Ahmaud Arbery, who was chased, shot killed by white men who weren’t arrested until months later, and EMT Breonna Taylor in Kentucky, who was shot at least eight times when three officers forcibly entered her apartment to serve a search warrant in a narcotics investigation.

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“Just singing what’s on my heart … hope this blesses someone,” the Jacksonville youth wrote in the caption with the video. The chorus — “I just wanna live, I just wanna live” — is an anthem for the very real fear among young black Americans that they may not live to grow up

Video of Keedron’s a cappella performance has been viewed more than 2.7 million times and was referenced by former Barack Obama in his statement Friday in response to Floyd’s death,

Listen here:

Derek Chauvin, who held his knee to Floyd’s neck, and three other police officers who stood by without intervening have been fired from the Minneapolis police force, but only Chauvin has been charged. He faces third-degree murder and manslaughter charges, and police have said an investigation is continuing into the conduct of the other police officers.