Who is Gianna Floyd? George Floyd's daughter, 6, gets call from Joe Biden: 'Daddy DID change the world'
Gianna Floyd, George Floyd's daughter, can breathe a sigh of relief now that her father's murderer, Derek Chauvin, has been convicted of all charges.
Gianna Floyd is trending on Twitter after Chauvin's verdict. Following the guilty verdict in the murder of Floyd by former Minneapolis police officer Chauvin, President Joe Biden said he spoke with Floyd's young daughter on April 20. Here's all you need to know about little Gianna, who went viral last summer after a video of her announcing, "Daddy changed the world” was posted on Instagram.
Who is Gianna Floyd?
Floyd was said to have had five children, including two daughters, ages six and 22, who live in Houston, and a grown son who lives in Bryan, Texas. Gianna is Floyd's youngest daughter aged six. Gianna told Good Morning America in May last year that she "missed" her father, describing him as a fun dad who always played with her, as reported by Express.co.uk.
Roxie Washington, her mother, had said on the show: “He would put her on his shoulders...She didn’t have to play with nobody else because Daddy was gonna play all day long.” Floyd was a good father, she said, who wanted his daughter to "have the best." “That was his baby,” she explained. “He loved his little girl."
'Daddy changed the world'
In the clip that went viral, which was originally shared by user @skrptz, Gianna sits on the shoulders of her father's close friend, Stephen Jackson when a voice off-camera responds, "He did what?" Gianna repeats: "Daddy changed the world." The video appears to have been shot before or after Gianna's mother spoke out for justice at a press conference in June.
“I wanted everybody to know that this is what those officers took from me,” Washington said at the time, according to Today. “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."
“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: “He loved her, he loved her so much."
A GoFundMe has been set up for Gianna by Tiffany Lee of Stewart Trial Attorneys on behalf of Roxie Washington. It says that their family "has lost their provider, and will no doubt suffer financial hardship after this tragic loss". The funding aims to provide mental and grief counseling for Gianna, lodging and travel for all court proceedings, and to assist Gianna's mother in providing for their child’s continued well-being and education. At the time of writing this article $2,355,320 has raised of $2,500,000 goal
"That little girl didn't deserve to lose her father this way. My heart goes out to this entire family! ♥️," said one of the people who donated. Another said, "i want to help and see progression in this sick world that we are living in." "We need to help one another, especially when those in power refuse to," said another.
'Let that be his legacy'
Biden called the verdict a "step forward" in a televised speech on April 20 night, but noted that the country still needs to deal with institutional racism in all aspects of life, including policing. Last year, at her father's funeral, Biden recalled meeting the then-6-year-old and told her "how brave she was" while holding her hand. Floyd is "looking down on you, he's so proud," Biden told her.
“She said to me, and I’ll never forget it, ‘Daddy changed the world,’” the President said. “I told her this afternoon, ‘Daddy did change the world.’” He added: “Let that be his legacy."