Minneapolis is still on fire. The buildings are still fuming, but anger and outrage are what most burn George Floyd’s citizens and neighbors. Last Monday the shocking video went viral in which you could see how the police despotically arrested an African-American man for allegedly trying to pay with a fake $ 20 bill. In the images, an officer immobilizes Floyd by putting his knee around his neck and, despite the cries for help, he does not stop until he is unconscious on the ground.
George Floyd, born in North Carolina and raised in Houston, was a 46-year-old former security guard who was a sports fan. During his youth, he lived on basketball and soccer and even tried to make a place for himself in the local hip-hop scene – where he got quite a lot of recognition. Back in Minneapolis, Floyd changed his lifestyle and started working as a security guard at the Conga Latin Bistro restaurant, a well-known local very close to the Mississippi River.
The man, the father of a 6-year-old girl named Gianna, was detained by police when he was allegedly trying to pay with a fake $ 20 bill. “It is cruel how he died, my daughter has been stolen,” said Roxie Washington, the girl’s mother. George was a very believing and “God-fearing” person, regardless of the mistake he had made; This was explained by his sister, Bridgett Floyd, to different local media.
Despite his stature and large build, his friends and acquaintances agree on Floyd’s “enormous goodness and sweetness”. In fact, during his years as a guard he also worked at Harbor Light, a Salvation Army homeless shelter. “I have no doubt that George, like many other shelter workers in our community, had a heart that cared about people and our community,” said the charity’s executive director, Brian Molohon.
On the other hand, Stephen Jackson, a former NBA star, has explained on his social networks that Floyd was like a brother to him, so much so that they even nicknamed each other “twins” – “twins” in Spanish. “It makes me so angry that after all the things you went through and that you behaved your best, they erased you like this,” he wrote on his personal Instagram account.
Jackson was not the only celebrity who wanted to denounce this cruel case that has revolted the city of Minneapolis and has already traveled around the world. And it is that personalities such as Madonna, Will Smith, Kanye West, Cardi B or Justin Bieber have wanted to denounce the murder and, consequently, the police violence that African Americans have suffered in the United States for years.
The phrase “I can’t breathe” – “I can’t breathe” -, which Floyd repeated up to 11 times before dying at the hands of police officer Derek Chauvin, have become the motto of the protests that are still active in the streets of the american city.
From Mundo Deportivo.
