In his final months before he was killed by police outside an Atlanta Wendy's, Rayshard Brooks didn’t hide his history.
In a video interview with the advocacy group Reconnect, Brooks talked openly of his prison time. He described a cycle of job rejection and shame. He talked of a system that takes millions of Americans, many of them Black like him, away from their families and treats them more like animals than individuals. Family and friends say when he died June 12, he was finally gaining firmer footing. He'd been working and taking care of his wife, three daughters and stepson. People describe him as a happy family man, always willing to be silly to make others laugh.