George Floyd’s six-year-old daughter Gianna and her mother Roxie Washington shared their anguish over his brutal and sudden death as they called for people to remember him as more than just a symbol.
Washington spoke on behalf of herself and Gianna at a press conference on Tuesday, eight days after Floyd, 46, was killed when white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pressed a knee into his neck for almost nine minutes during an arrest on Memorial Day.
Protests erupted across the country after citizen video showed Floyd, who was handcuffed, begging to be let up and crying out ‘I can’t breathe’ as Chauvin and three other officers ignored his pleas.
‘I don’t have a lot to say, I can’t get the words together right now,’ Washington said as she choked back tears.
‘I want everyone to know that this is what those officers took from me,’ she said, referencing the small girl standing next to her.
‘At the end of the day, they get to go home and be with their families. Gianna does not have a father. He will never see her grow up, graduate, he will never walk her down the aisle. If there’s a problem and she needs her dad, she does not have that anymore.
‘I’m here for my baby and I’m here for George because I want justice for him.
‘He was good, no matter what anybody thinks, he was good. This is the proof.’
George Floyd’s six-year-old daughter Gianna and her mother Roxie Washington shared their anguish over his brutal and sudden death at a press conference on Tuesday in Minneapolis
Floyd is pictured with Gianna and her mother, Roxie Washington, in his former hometown of Houston. Washington told the Houston Chronicle her ex was a ‘gentle giant’
Washington recalled how excited Floyd was when his daughter was born, saying: ‘He was so happy to have her.’
‘He slept the whole time I was in labor, but when he heard her cry, he woke up,’ she said.
‘I still have a picture of him waking up and getting his baby. He loved her. He loved her so much.’
As Washington and Gianna stepped back from the microphone, Floyd’s longtime friend Stephen Jackson approached and placed his hands on the podium.
The former NBA player stared at the floor for several seconds in silence before saying: ‘It really don’t make no sense. We all seen it plain as day.
He then motioned toward the media and said: ‘Y’all in here with cameras to record what’s in here so you can have it for later. So you can have proof of what happened today. Right?
‘When you post that footage on your news station, you expect people to believe what you’re posting and what you videoed is real, right?
‘Why is it not that simple when someone is getting videoed and getting murdered? Why is it not that simple?’
Before he spoke, Floyd’s longtime friend Stephen Jackson stared down in silence for several seconds. ‘It really don’t make no sense. We all seen it plain as day,’ he said in reference to the video of Floyd’s death
‘Why do we have to see her pain?’ Jackson asked, motioning back toward Washington. ‘Why do we have to see a daughter getting raised without her father?’
‘But you know what? There’s a lot of stuff you [Washington] said that he gon’ miss, that I’m gon’ be there for. I’m gon’ walk her down the aisle. I’m gon’ be there for her. I’m gon’ be there to wipe your tears,’ he to scattered applause.
‘Floyd might not be here, but I’m here for her. I’m here to get justice. We gon’ get justice for my brother. We not leaving. We gon’ keep fighting. We gon’ send my brother home in beautiful ways this week, but I’m telling you, we are not leaving.
‘We demanded justice. And I’m tired of seeing that. I’m not gon’ see her hurt like that every day. We need justice. We demand it. And some goddamn way we gon’ get it.
‘Thank y’all for coming, but this shit has to stop.’
This is a developing story.
Gianna hid in the crook of her mother’s arm as she spoke to reporters
Washington embraces her daughter after delivering her tearful remarks