George Floyd’s biography, net worth, fact, career, awards and life story

George Perry Floyd Jr. (October 14, 1973 – May 25, 2020) was an African American man who died during a police arrest in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020. Protests in response to both Floyd’s death, and more broadly to police violence against other African Americans, quickly spread across the United States and internationally.

Biography

Floyd was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and raised in Cuney Homes in the Third Ward of Houston, Texas. Friends and family called him Perry and characterized him as a “gentle giant”; he was 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) tall and weighed 223 pounds (101 kg) at autopsy.

At Yates High School, Floyd played on the basketball team and helped lead the football team to the Texas state championships; he graduated in 1993. He attended South Florida Community College for two years and played on its basketball team. He transferred to Texas A&M University–Kingsville, where he also played basketball, before dropping out.

Floyd returned to Houston where he became an automotive customizer and played club basketball. Beginning in 1994 he also performed as a rapper using the stage name “Big Floyd” in the hip hop group Screwed Up Click. Floyd has been called an early contributor to the development of Houston’s hip-hop scene. He also was an informal community leader and mentor to young men.

After several arrests for theft and drug possession, Floyd was charged in 2007 with armed robbery in a home invasion, which he committed with five other men, during which he “forced his way inside the residence, placed a pistol against the complainant’s abdomen, and forced her into the living room area of the residence”; he agreed to a plea deal in 2009 and was sentenced to five years in prison. He was paroled in 2013 after spending four years at the Diboll Unit. After his release, he became involved with Resurrection Houston, a local ministry.

In 2014, he moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he took jobs driving a truck and providing security at a restaurant and lived in St. Louis Park. In 2017, he filmed an anti-gun violence video. In 2020, he lost his security job because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He had five children, including two daughters who reside in Houston, ages 6 and 22, and an adult son in Bryan, Texas.

Death

On May 25, 2020, Floyd was arrested on a charge of passing a counterfeit $20 bill at a grocery store in the Powderhorn Park neighborhood of Minneapolis. According to the store clerk, the bill was an obvious fake and Floyd had refused to return the purchased cigarettes when challenged. He died after Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, pressed his knee to Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes during the arrest. Floyd was handcuffed face down in the street, while two other officers further restrained Floyd and a fourth prevented onlookers from intervening. For the last three of those minutes Floyd was motionless and had no pulse, but officers made no attempt to revive him. Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd’s neck as arriving emergency medical technicians attempted to treat him. The official autopsy found Floyd died of cardiac arrest caused by being restrained. The autopsy found fentanyl and methamphetamine in his system. A second autopsy, commissioned by Floyd’s family and performed by Michael Baden, found that the “evidence is consistent with mechanical asphyxia as the cause” of death, with neck compression restricting blood flow to the brain, and back compression restricting breathing.

Protests

After Floyd’s death, demonstrations and protests were held globally against use of excessive force by police officers and lack of police accountability. Accounts of looting, violence and aggressive police activity were shared at many of these protests. Protests developed in over 400 cities throughout all 50 American states and internationally.

Memorials and legacy

Various memorial services were planned across the world. On June 4, 2020, a memorial service for Floyd took place in Minneapolis with the Rev. Al Sharpton delivering the eulogy. Services were planned in North Carolina with a public viewing and private service on June 6 and in Houston on June 8 and 9.

North Central University hosted the Minneapolis memorial service, announcing a memorial scholarship in Floyd’s name and challenging other colleges and universities to follow suit. University president Scott Hagen announced that as of June 4, the scholarship fund had received US$53,000 in donations. Alabama State announced a scholarship honoring Floyd and Greg Gunn in response hours later, challenging other historically black colleges and universities to follow suit; HBCU Oakwood University announced a scholarship that same day. Missouri State University, Southeast Missouri State and Ohio University announced June 5 that the schools would offer George Floyd scholarships. On June 6 SUNY Buffalo State and Copper Mountain College announced scholarships in Floyd’s name.

Street artists globally created murals honoring Floyd. Depictions included Floyd as a ghost in Minneapolis, as an angel in Houston and as a saint weeping blood in Naples. A mural on the International Wall in Belfast commissioned by Festival of the People (Féile an Phobail) and Visit West Belfast (Fáilte Feirste Thiar) features a large portrait of Floyd above a tableau showing Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck while the three other officers turn their backs and each covers his eyes, ears, or mouth in the manner of the Three Wise Monkeys (“See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”). By June 6, murals had been created in Manchester, Dallas, Miami, Idlib, Los Angeles, Nairobi, Oakland, Strombeek-Bever, Berlin, Pensacola, and La Mesa.