Freedom Is Breathing was written as an elegy paying tribute to the life of George Floyd. It was also written as response to the poem J'accuse by poet Sony Ton-Aimé, which describes in grusome detail the accounts of George Floyd's murder.

Throughout the piece, there are many occurences of text painting. I sought to give the descriptive nature of Ton-Aimé's poem life by allowing the musical gestures to mimic many of his words as well as their meanings, such as the pulsation in breathing and the sorrow of voices crying out in that fateful scene. As with much of my work, my great hope is to bring awareness to the travesty of racism and bigotry of all types, to pay hommage to the many innocent lives we've lost, and to sow seeds of perseverance to my fellow man in hopes of establishing not only a better America, but a better world.