Floyd was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina to George Perry Floyd and Larcenia "Cissy" Jones. He had four brothers and sisters.[4]
When he was 2, he and his brothers and sisters moved with their mother to Houston, Texas. They lived in public housing[5] in the Third Ward, which is one of Houston's poorest neighborhoods. He was called Perry, which was his middle name.
Floyd had many jobs. He got into trouble with the law several times. From 1997 to 2005, he went to prison 8 times. Some of the things he went to jail for were drug possession, theft and home invasion.[18][19][20][note 2]
After he left jail, Floyd tried to turn his life around. He mentored other young men as part of a church group so they would not make do the same bad things he did.[19][21][22] He also helped his mother out after she had a stroke.[23]
In 2020, he lost his job as a security guard because the bar where he worked at shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In April, he got COVID-19 but got better.[19][28]
Floyd had 5 children and 2 grandchildren.[28] His youngest daughter, Gianna, lives in Houston with his former partner.[29] A GoFundMe campaign to help pay for Floyd's funeral costs and benefit his family made the site's record for the most individual donations.[30]
Death
On May 25, 2020, a 44 year old white police officer named Derek Chauvin killed Floyd in Minneapolis by putting him in a chokehold during an arrest on suspicion of forgery when an employee from Cup Foods informed the Minneapolis Police Department that he had used a fake $20 bill to buy cigarettes and that he was believed to be awfully drunk and not in control of himself. Chauvin kneeled on Floyd's neck, which meant that he could not breathe. Witnesses said that Floyd was reported to plead “I can’t breathe” multiple times to the officers. Floyd could not move because he was handcuffed and lying face down.[31][32][33] Two other officers named Thomas Lane and James Alexander Keung were on Floyd's back and legs and another officer named Tou Thao stopped others from helping Floyd.[34]: 6:24 [35][36]For the last three of those minutes, Floyd did not move and had no pulse[31][33] but officers did not try to revive him.[37]: 6:46 Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd's neck as paramedics attempted to treat him.[37]: 7:21 According to The New York Times, Chauvin had restrained Floyd for eight minutes and forty six seconds.
The second autopsy report done by the county said that Floyd's death was a homicide caused by cardiac arrest caused by him being restrained.[11][38][39] This autopsy was done after people complained about the first one, which did not say homicide was the cause of his death.
His family had an autopsy done by another doctor, which said that Floyd died of asphyxia. However, it was done without samples from his body.[40][41]
Some people nearby filmed the officers hurting Floyd and then put the videos on the Internet. Because of this, people started to protest. Protests began in Minneapolis the day after Floyd died. More protests would be held in all 50 US states and in 400 cities all around the world.[42][43]
Tributes and mural outside Cup Foods, where Floyd died.
A legacy is an impact that someone leaves behind when they die. George Floyd left behind a big legacy because he died due to police violence. In the United States, the police have a history of racism and not treating minority groups right. After Floyd died, there were big efforts to stop racism everywhere in the country, not just against Black people. This led to many murals and places honoring his legacy.
Many people were sad and angry about George Floyd's death. They think it is proof that racism is still a big problem in the United States. Some people came out to the streets to protests. Many protests were peaceful. Others were violent.
Schools
Some universities created scholarships in George Floyd's name.[49] The CEO of Netflix and his wife made a $120 million donation to several historically black colleges and universities.[50][51] These schools were created by and for African Americans as they were usually not allowed to attend colleges in the past.
Law
A bill proposed by US Representative Sheila Jackson Lee (a Democrat from Texas), the George Floyd Law Enforcement Trust and Integrity Act, was made to reduce police brutality and establish national policing standards.[52][53]
George Floyd's death was the cover story for The Economist.[61] It wrote that his legacy was "the rich promise of social change."[62]
Hip Hop
Houston rappers have posted tributes to Floyd and called for justice in what they see as an act of police brutality against an African-American man. “R.I.P. Big Floyd He took his life in broad day may God bring his family justice,” original Screwed Up Click member Lil’ Keke wrote on Instagram. His post asked followers to call Minneapolis District Attorney Michael Freeman and demand charges be pressed against the four officers fired after detaining Floyd for an alleged forgery in progress, one of whom pushed his knee against Floyd’s neck, according to a bystander video. “Say His Name #GeorgeFloyd Rest Easy… The Fight For Us Begins Now,” rapper Trae The Truth, another member of Screwed Up Click, wrote alongside a photo of Floyd. “4 Officers Fired Aint Enough!!!” he added on a subsequent post. Minneapolis residents protested Floyd’s death and the lack of charges for the officers on May 26, and were met with more police force.[63]
Notes
↑ 1.01.1The initial criminal complaint gave the time as 8:46. This time was used by protesters and the media. Prosecutors later corrected this to 7:46.[2]
↑
In 1997, Floyd was arrested for giving less than one gram of cocaine to another person. In 1998, Floyd was arrested twice for theft. In 2001, Floyd was arrested for failing to provide his name, address, or birth date to a police officer. Between 2002 and 2005, he was arrested four more times: twice for possessing less than a gram of cocaine, once for giving less than a gram of cocaine to someone else, and once for trespassing. He was sentenced to a total of about 30 months in jail for those four crimes. In 2009, Floyd was sentenced to five years in prison for aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon. [18]
↑"George Floyd was killed on May 25". The Economist. June 4, 2020. Archived from the original on June 4, 2020. Retrieved June 5, 2020. He liked being a bouncer. His regular stint was at the Conga Latin Bistro on East Hennepin, another Mexican-Latino joint with dining and dancing.
↑Brooks, Jennifer (May 28, 2020). "George Floyd and the city that killed him". Star Tribune. Archived from the original on May 28, 2020. Retrieved May 29, 2020. Down the road, people were marching and mourning Floyd, whose irreplaceable life ended after an arrest face-down on the asphalt of E. 38th Street.
↑"Floyd, George Perry"(PDF) (Press release). Hennepin County Medical Examiner. June 1, 2020. Archived(PDF) from the original on June 5, 2020. Retrieved June 12, 2020.
