Amid protests across the country over the untimely death of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody, members of his family are speaking out — including his 6-year-old daughter, Gianna Floyd.
A video of Gianna, which shows her sitting on the shoulders of her father's close friend, Stephen Jackson, has now gone viral. In the short clip, which TODAY aired in a segment Wednesday, the little girl smiles and spreads her arms, announcing, "Daddy changed the world." A voice off camera responds, "He did what?" and Gianna says again, "Daddy changed the world."
The video, originally shared by Instagram account Skrptz, appears to have been taken either before or after a press event on Tuesday at Minneapolis' City Hall, where Gianna's mother, Roxie Washington, pleaded for justice.
“I wanted everybody to know that this is what those officers took from me,” Washington said, her voice breaking, with Gianna alongside 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," she continued. "If there's a problem she's having and she needs her dad, she does not have that anymore.
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“I'm here for my baby and I'm here for George because I want justice for him. I want justice for him because he was good. No matter what anybody thinks, he was good,” she said, later adding that Floyd was a good father. “He loved her, he loved her so much."
Jackson, a former NBA player, joined Washington at the microphone and gave an emotional speech about how he plans to support Gianna in the years to come.
"I'm going to walk her down the aisle," he said. "I'm going to be there for her. I'm going to be there to wipe your tears."
Last week, Floyd's sister, Bridgett Floyd, opened up to TODAY's Hoda Kotb about the loss of her brother. She spoke specifically about the four officers involved in Floyd's arrest, all of whom were fired last week.
A cellphone video from a bystander showed one officer, Derek Chauvin, kneeling on Floyd's neck for almost 9 minutes. Floyd was later declared dead at the hospital. Chauvin was charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. On Tuesday, a lawyer for the Floyd family said authorities told them the other three officers are expected to be charged, but as of Wednesday, nothing has been made official.
"I would like for those officers to be charged with murder because that's exactly what they did,'' Bridgett Floyd said. "They murdered my brother. He was crying for help. I don't need them to be suspended and able to work in another state or another county. Their license should be taken away, their jobs should be taken away, and they should be put in jail for murder."
She added, "Me and my family are taking this very, very hard. It's very heartbreaking. It's very disturbing to our peace. We're just doing the best that we can and making sure that we do the right thing, do what he would want us to do."
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