[https://www.king5.com/mobile/article/news/community/facing-race/enough-george-floyds-biracial-cousin-finds-her-place-in-the-fight-for-racial-justice/281-c7fb195d-0d19-430b-8298-0af272cf35b5](https://www.king5.com/mobile/article/news/community/facing-race/enough-george-floyds-biracial-cousin-finds-her-place-in-the-fight-for-racial-justice/281-c7fb195d-0d19-430b-8298-0af272cf35b5) Reckoning Shayla Zartman woke up early on May 26, relieved she was finally feeling better after a virus had her stomach twisted in knots for days. Morning light illuminated her spacious college apartment at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, where she was a freshman. She untangled herself from her sheets and grabbed her phone from the charger. She noticed two text messages from her older half-brother, Sean York. The first included a link to a news article with the headline, “Video shows Minneapolis cop with knee on neck of motionless, moaning man who later died.” In the second, Sean warned his sister not to watch the video accompanying the story. He didn’t say why. Shayla had questions after reading the article, which detailed how a Black man died outside of a corner store, gasping for air with his face wedged for nearly nine minutes between a city street and a white police officer’s knee. She turned to Twitter for answers. Video clips of the man moaning “I can’t breathe,” began to autoplay as Shayla scrolled through trending hashtags: #BlackLivesMatter [#ICantBreathe](/relevant/new/ICantBreathe) , [#JusticeforFloyd](/relevant/new/JusticeforFloyd) , [#GeorgeFloyd](/relevant/new/GeorgeFloyd) . George Floyd was becoming a household name and a focus of viral news coverage. But Shayla didn’t recognize her cousin in the video. Not at first. Family members always just called him by his middle name, “Perry.” Now she was feeling a different sort of nausea. She retreated back under the covers. She couldn’t bear to look. Floyd’s killing shocked a nation into grappling with long-ignored problems rooted in race, inequality and discrimination. It sparked worldwide protests during a global health pandemic. And soon, it would transform Shayla, 22, into an activist. “A fire has been set off inside my soul,” she said in July after a protest in Lakewood, where she donned an orange mask that said “I can’t breathe” and held a sign demanding body cameras for all police officers.

[https://www.king5.com/mobile/article/news/community/facing-race/enough-george-floyds-biracial-cousin-finds-her-place-in-the-fight-for-racial-justice/281-c7fb195d-0d19-430b-8298-0af272cf35b5](https://www.king5.com/mobile/article/news/community/facing-race/enough-george-floyds-biracial-cousin-finds-her-place-in-the-fight-for-racial-justice/281-c7fb195d-0d19-430b-8298-0af272cf35b5) Reckoning Shayla Zartman woke up early on May 26, relieved she was finally feeling better after a virus had her stomach twisted in knots for days. Morning light illuminated her spacious college apartment at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, where she was a freshman. She untangled herself from her sheets and grabbed her phone from the charger. She noticed two text messages from her older half-brother, Sean York. The first included a link to a news article with the headline, “Video shows Minneapolis cop with knee on neck of motionless, moaning man who later died.” In the second, Sean warned his sister not to watch the video accompanying the story. He didn’t say why. Shayla had questions after reading the article, which detailed how a Black man died outside of a corner store, gasping for air with his face wedged for nearly nine minutes between a city street and a white police officer’s knee. She turned to Twitter for answers. Video clips of the man moaning “I can’t breathe,” began to autoplay as Shayla scrolled through trending hashtags: #BlackLivesMatter [#ICantBreathe](/relevant/new/ICantBreathe) , [#JusticeforFloyd](/relevant/new/JusticeforFloyd) , [#GeorgeFloyd](/relevant/new/GeorgeFloyd) . George Floyd was becoming a household name and a focus of viral news coverage. But Shayla didn’t recognize her cousin in the video. Not at first. Family members always just called him by his middle name, “Perry.” Now she was feeling a different sort of nausea. She retreated back under the covers. She couldn’t bear to look. Floyd’s killing shocked a nation into grappling with long-ignored problems rooted in race, inequality and discrimination. It sparked worldwide protests during a global health pandemic. And soon, it would transform Shayla, 22, into an activist. “A fire has been set off inside my soul,” she said in July after a protest in Lakewood, where she donned an orange mask that said “I can’t breathe” and held a sign demanding body cameras for all police officers.