Autumn Gupta knew her best friend was in pain.
Footage of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on the neck of George Floyd for 8 minutes 46 seconds was being played repeatedly on news channels and social media.
Another black man as the victim of police brutality. Gupta’s friend, Bryanna Wallace, must be hurting.
Gupta and Wallace, 23 and 22, respectively, had roomed together at the University of Southern California, bonding over “Grey’s Anatomy” and their Christian faith.
Gupta called Wallace — and listened.
“We spent two and a half hours on the call, with me sharing my experience of how it feels when these incidents of racial injustice recur and there is no consequence or retribution,” Wallace said.
As a person of color but not a member of the black community, Gupta wanted to learn more, but she didn’t want to burden her friend. So she decided it was time for self-education. Where to begin? A dam had broken on social media, flooding it with suggestions of books to read, shows and movies to watch, podcasts to listen to, petitions to sign.
