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Black pastors have a new job on their plates during COVID-19: encouraging skeptical congregants to get vaccinated.

Why it matters: “There’s distrust in our community. We can’t ignore that,” Rev. James Coleman of D.C.'s All Nations Baptist told AP.

  • “The church, and particularly the Black church, is essential. ... That’s what pastors do.”
  • The Pennsylvania Avenue Baptist Church in southeast D.C. has been designated a “faith-based vaccination partner,” with a portable vaccination trailer set up in the church’s parking lot twice a week, AP notes.

The big picture: Many Black seniors vividly remember medical exploitation horrors such as the Tuskegee syphilis study.

  • Peer-to-peer exchanges matter: “[T]hey're hearing from congregants ... who can speak to them about what they know and what they believe about the science and research and the value of taking a vaccine shot,’’ UAB School of Medicine Dean Selwyn Vickers told USA Today.

Between the lines: Black seniors also struggle with online registration systems and sitting on hold only to be informed that all appointments had been filled.

The bottom line: “In the spirit of love, keep at it until you get your vaccination," Rev. Wallace Charles Smith told his congregation in D.C.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.