White Americans are beginning to realise that they too belong to a race

Editor’s note: Twelve months on from the killing of George Floyd, The Economist is publishing a series of articles, films, podcasts, data visualisations and guest contributions on the theme of race in America. To see them visit our hub

DEREK CHAUVIN was born three years after George Floyd, and grew up in Cottage Grove, a suburb of the Twin Cities 20 miles from the corner where one man killed the other. Cottage Grove is a place of detached bungalows, private yards and public driveways connected by shared lawns. Several houses have large pick-up trucks parked in front. Some fly outsized American flags from their flagpoles. This is not a rich place, but it is several rungs above Cuney Homes, the complex of apartments in Houston’s third ward where Mr Floyd was raised. A boy born in Cottage Grove 30 years ago could expect to grow up in a household with an annual income of $55,000 (the median for America is $68,000). At the latest census, 85% of the inhabitants were white.