Meanings
- USderogatoryusuallygovernmentThe summer of 2020, marked by unrest and protests against the murder of George Floyd beginning from May 26, 2020.
Contrary to what the summer of Floyd seemed to portend, "people" are clamoring for more and better-funded cops, not a systemic revamp.
2021 November 5, Zak Cheney-Rice, “Minneapolis Police Department Survives Ballot Question 2”, in Intelligencer, New York, N.Y.: New York Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 25 Jan 20263 more examples
And although not directly related to the protests, in the midst of these disturbances MIT became the first elite private school to ban DEI statements in faculty hiring and promotion, showing that the "Summer of Floyd" effect that once seemed to push all prestigious institutions in the same direction may be fading.
2024 May 10, Richard Hanania, “Is the Backlash to Universities Becoming Real?”, in Tablet, archived from the original on 22 May 2024The year earlier the university had collectively taken a knee during the Summer of Floyd. This turned out not to be empty virtue-signalling, as I expected, but had serious consequences for the way we conducted our affairs.
2025 December 29, James Hankins, “Why I'm Leaving Harvard”, in Compact, archived from the original on 22 Jan 2026In one fell swoop, they've turned virtually every person of faith against them — even the liberal Christians. They've taken a worship service, a hallowed and sacred rite that is an integral part of the Christian faith, and turned it into an advertisement for ... what? The fact that these people haven't learned from the excesses of the Summer of Floyd™?
2026 January 19, C. Douglas Golden, “Unbelievable: Don Lemon Lectures Pastor on Christianity After Anti-ICE Rioters Storm Church Service”, in The Western Journal, archived from the original on 25 Jan 2026
Origin
Modelled on Summer of Love, using the name Floyd.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Summer of Floyd. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Summer%20of%20Floyd
“Summer of Floyd.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Summer%20of%20Floyd. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Summer of Floyd,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Summer%20of%20Floyd.
Source: Summer of Floyd on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.