George Floyd's children, brother denounce violent protests across US: 'It's not what he was about'
George Floyd's children and some of his relatives have denounced the violent protests that have ravaged the United States in the past weekend over his death. They are encouraging peaceful protests in his memory instead.
“The violence is not the right way to do it,” daughter Connie Mason Floyd told KBTX. “Now, this is beautiful, but the violence, it won’t solve nothing.”
“Tearing up things, it’s not going to solve anything,” son Quincy Mason Floyd added. “My dad is in peace and we have to be the ones to deal with all this stress. It’s going to be tough to get over this day by day.”
The children reportedly moved from Houston to Bryan, Texas, with their mother more than 15 years ago. According to Quincy, he was very young when he last saw his father. The heartbreaking news of George Floyd's death in Minneapolis reached the family only after Memorial Day.
“I didn’t recognize who it was until Mom called and told me,” Quincy said. “She said, ‘Do you know who that guy was?’ I said no. She said, ‘That’s your father.’”
Connie and Quincy plan to make a visit to Houston on Monday in a bid to reconnect with other members of George's extended family, hoping to share news about funeral arrangements for their slain father, who is reportedly set to be buried in the Houston area.
Speaking to the Washington Post, George's brother Terrence said he plans to visit the scene of the tragic incident sometime this week.
“I just want to feel my brother’s spirit... to connect with him again," he said.
“He would want us to seek justice the way we are, the way we’re trying to do, but channel it another way,” Terrence told 'Good Morning America' on Monday. “Ripping up, damaging your hometown is not the way he’d want."
He told GMA co-anchor Robin Roberts he was concerned that some of the violence was taking away from the call for justice for his brother.
“Yes, I do feel like it's overshadowing what's going on,” Terrence said. “He was about peace, he was about unity. The things that's transpiring now, they may call it unity, but it’s destructive unity. It’s not what he was about. That's not what my brother was about,” he added.
According to a tally compiled by The Associated Press, at least 4,100 people have been arrested over the past week of protests across the country since Floyd's death. While Floyd's death during his arrest by police officer Derek Chauvin initially sparked peaceful protests, they soon turned violent after anarchist groups such as Antifa came into the fold.
That said, Black Lives Matter protests have now spread across the globe — with thousands marching to the US Embassy in Battersea in the UK. The crowd was heard chanting, "say his name: George Floyd I can’t breathe" as they walked alongside River Thames, according to Metro.
Thousands have taken to the streets to protest systemic racism and call for bringing the police officers responsible for Floyd's death to justice. The arrest crimes have ranged from looting to blocking highways to violent behavior, include those from demonstrations in New York and Philadelphia on the East Coast, Chicago and Dallas in the Midwest and Southwest, and Los Angeles on the West Coast.