HOUSTON – Saturday marks four years since George Floyd was killed, kicking off protests as tensions over racism and police violence boiled over across the country.
His family and the community remembered him in Houston on Saturday near the basketball courts at his childhood home in the Third Ward.
“Racism’s still here and we’re all fighting for equality,” his brother Rodney Floyd said. “One thing he stood for is unity.”
In May 2020, former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes, which was captured on video that’s been seen by millions.
A jury later convicted him of murder.
“It’s more painful every year because it’s another year that I’m without him,” Floyd’s sister Latoyna said.
Attempts to make meaningful change in his name haven’t made it far.
Earlier this year, President Joe Biden called on Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which is a bill his family would like to see enacted because “it’s about the generations behind us.”
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee reintroduced the bill earlier this week. It would hold law enforcement accountable for misconduct in court, improve transparency, and reform police training and policies.
Floyd’s family won’t give up.
“We’re keeping his name alive and we’re going to do this forever, until we’re gone,” Latonya Floyd said.