No matter how much solidarity we offer, we could never be in the shoes of George Floyd’s family members or any black person for that matter. It wrenches our heart to think of what his little daughter, Gianna Floyd must have felt when she realized she would never see her father again.
George Floyd was murdered by a cop, Derek Chauvin on grounds of suspicion for forgery outside a grocery store in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was unarmed and helpless when Chauvin and three other policemen approached George’s car, pulled him out, handcuffed him. While shoving him into the police car Floyd repeatedly told them he was claustrophobic. This instigated the police officer to push him to the ground and choke him with his knee for over 8 mins till he stopped moving. The inhumanity of the situation had evoked mass protests throughout Minnesota. Throughout the world, people have taken to social media to voice their solidarity and anger against racism.
What hit a chord in people was a clip uploaded by former NBA player, Stephen Jackson on Twitter. The clip shows George Floyd’s 6-year-old daughter, Gianna saying ‘Daddy changed the world’ with a rueful smile with pain in her eyes. Twitter blew up with this clip as thousand expressed their love and support for little Gianna.
Several retweets and comments by celebrities were notices.
Benjamin Dixon commented ‘The price was too high, sweety. Too damn high.’
“daddy changed the world.” george floyd’s daughter, gianna floyd, on the impact her father has had. no, she isn’t crying. she is fighting for her dad’s legacy, she is fighting for black people, she is fighting for change’, tweeted by singer Camilla Cabello.
Roxie Washington, Gianna Floyd’s mother lamented George’s death and called for justice. She claimed that Gianna is the proof that George was a good man who deserves justice. She regretted the fact that everyone would get to home to their close ones afterward, except Gianna. She would never get to go home to her father.
“He would never see her grow up, graduate … he would never walk her down the aisle,” Roxie Washington said in a press conference. She added, “If there’s a problem that she’s having, she doesn’t have her dad anymore.”
The cop who killed George Floyd was charged with second-degree murder, while the other three policemen in the scene who were recognized as Thomas Kiernan Lane, Alexander Kueng, and Tou Nmn Thao were charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder.
