Zaila Avant-garde becomes 1st African American to win Scripps National Spelling Bee
09 July 2021
Fourteen-year-old Zaila Avant-garde on Thursday night became the first African American to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
The big picture: Avant-garde's winning word was "murraya." First lady Jill Biden attended this year's finals, which were held in Orlando, Florida, after the coronavirus pandemic canceled last year's bee.
- The only previous Black winner in the event's 96-year history is Jody-Anne Maxwell of Jamaica, who won in 1998.
- Avant-garde, who is from New Orleans and holds several Guinness world records for dribbling basketballs, wants to someday play in the WNBA, according to AP.
- Chaitra Thummala, a 12-year-old from San Francisco, came in second place. Bhavana Madini, a 13-year-old from New York City, placed third.
It was the smile and twirls for us! After tying for 370th place in 2019, #Speller133 Zaila Avant-garde wins the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee.
— Scripps National Spelling Bee (@ScrippsBee) July 9, 2021
Congrats to all of our spellers. We're proud of everyone's poise and courage in facing the dictionary. #SpellingBee#TheBeeIsBackpic.twitter.com/wHfYeU4CNl
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly 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.