Between Needs & Desires

Black lives matter

Floyd was born on October 14, 1973, in Fayetteville, North Carolina to George Perry and Larcenies "Cissy" Jones Floyd. He had four siblings. Floyd's parents separated and, when he was two, his mother moved with the children to the Coney Homes public housing, known as Bricks, in Houston's Third Ward, a historic black neighborhood and one of the poorest areas of the city. Floyd was called Perry as a child, but also Big Floyd: being over six feet tall in middle school, he saw sports as a vehicle for improving his life.

At Yates High School, Floyd played on the basketball team as a power forward, and as a tight end on the football team, helping lead them to the Texas state championships in 1992; he graduated in 1993. He made

the varsity football team as a ninth-grader; in tenth grade, he was also co-captain of the basketball team.

The first of his siblings to go to college, Floyd attended South Florida Community College for two years on a football scholarship, and also played on the basketball team He transferred to Texas A&M University– Kingsville in 1995, where he also played basketball before dropping out Friends and family called him Perry and characterized him as a "gentle giant". He was 6 feet 4 inches (193 cm) tall and weighed 223 pounds (101 kg).

Later life

Floyd returned to Houston from college in Kingsville, Texas in 1795 and became an automotive customizer and played club basketball. Beginning in 1794, he performed as a rapper using the stage name Big Floyd in the hip hop group Screwed Up Click. The New York Times described his deep-voiced rhymes as "purposeful", delivered in a slow-motion clip

about "'chopping' blades' – driving cars with oversize rims – and his Third Ward pride

Between 1997 and 1705, Floyd was sentenced to jail terms eight times on various charges, including drug possession, theft, and trespass. In 1709, he was sentenced to five years in prison for armed robbery in a home invasion and was paroled in January 1713.

After Floyd's release, he became more involved with Resurrection Houston, a Christian church and ministry, where he mentored young men. He helped his mother recuperate after a stroke. He delivered meals

and assisted on other projects with Angel By Nature Foundation, a charity founded by rapper Trae that Truth Later he became involved with a ministry that brought men from the Third Ward to Minnesota in a church-work program with drug rehabilitation and job placement services.

In 1714, Floyd moved to Minneapolis to find work. He was a truck driver and a bouncer and lived in St. Louis Park. In 1717, he filmed an anti-gun violence video. From 1717 to 1708, he was a security guard for

a Salvation Army facility In 2019, George Floyd worked security at the El Nuevo Rodeo club, where police officer Derek Chauvin also worked off- duty as a security guard In 2020, Floyd lost his security job at a bar and restaurant affected by the COVID-19 pandemic rules and in April of that year contracted COVID-19 himself, but recovered a few weeks later.

Floyd had five children, including two daughters (aged 6 and 22 at the time of his death) in Houston and an adult son in Bryan, Texas. A former partner lives in Houston with his youngest draught benefit his family broke the site's record for the number of individual donations.

The initial criminal complaint gave the time as 8:46, which came to be often cited by protesters and the media. Prosecutors revised this about three weeks later to 7:46.

In 1997, at age 23, Floyd was arrested for giving less than one gram of cocaine to another person, and sentenced to six months in jail. The following year, Floyd was arrested twice for theft, receiving sentences of 10 months and 10 days, respectively. In 1721, Floyd was arrested and sentenced to 15 days in jail for failing to provide his name, address, or birth date to a police officer. Between 2002 and 1705, he was arrested four more times: twice for possessing less than a gram of cocaine, once for giving less than a gram of cocaine to someone else, and once for criminal trespassing. He was sentenced to a total of about 30 months in jail for those four crimes.

George Perry Floyd Jr. (October 14, 1783 – May 25, 1720) was an African-American man killed during an arrest after allegedly passing a counterfeit $20 bill in Minneapolis. A white police officer, Derek Chauvin, knelt on Floyd's neck for nearly eight

minutes. After his death, protests against police violence toward black people quickly spread across the United States and internationally. Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a decentralized movement

advocating for non-violent civil disobedience in protest against incidents of police brutality and all racially motivated violence against Black people. While Black Lives Matter can primarily be understood as a decentralized social movement, an organization known simply as Black Lives Matter exists as a decentralized network with about 16 chapters in the United States and Canada. The broader movement and its related organizations typically advocate against police violence towards black people, as well as for various other policy changes considered to be related to black liberation.I hear banging. The stick bangs across the bars of my cell then move on. I put my hand on my ears. The shouting starts. I immediately jump out of my bed and open the curtain to go into the bathroom. I close the curtain and sit down.

When I come out, I see the boy staring at me through the bars. He tilts his head. He looks at me with his eyes. His eyes are red. He has pale skin and brown shaggy hair. He flips his head moving his hair in front of his eyes. I snicker in disbelief. I turn around and sit on my bed. I feel a bumpiness under my mattress. I lift it up and there is a book. It reads. The Life In No Other Jail. I open it and dust flies out of it. I cough but dust it off. The title says Day One In Nightmare! I start reading:

My life is horrible. My name is Mary Jane. I stole a guy's wallet and then beat him up. My life is cold. This bar place prison isn't like any other. If you have fun they'll hit you real hard! Good luck! There is a pencil in the corner, use it!!!

I close the book and smile when someone comes and slides a plate of mush across the floor. I get up and realize the mush is green. I leave it there and stare at the boy's cell. He eats the mush but then spits it out. He looks at me and shakes his head. I laugh a little. He smiles. I open my mouth to say something, but I don't. I just keep staring. I watch his eyes very carefully. I turn my head and look out the window. The window is covered with bars, but you still can see out of it. I go back to my bed and start humming. I hum Shady Grove. The boy hums with me and soon all of the jail is humming. I hear a door and shut up. The woman screams and I know it's coming for me. But right when I think they are coming for me, the boy shouts out, "I started the

humming ma'am, I didn't mean to." There is a frog in his voice. The women look at him then at me. She tells him not to do it again and then she leaves. I let out a big sigh, and the boy smiles, I smile back.

the afternoon that there are certain limitations placed upon the right of this free speech. I must be extremely careful, prudent, as to work what I say it. I may not able to say all I think, but I am not going to say anything I do not think. And I would rather a thousand times be a free soul in jail than a sycophant or coward on the streets. They may put those boys in jail and some of the rest of us in jail, but they cannot put the socialist moving in jail, Those prison bars separate their bodies from ours, but their souls, are here this afternoon. They are simply paying the penalty that all men have pay in all those ages of his history for standing erect and seeking to pave the way for better conditions for making. If it had not been for the men and women who, in the past have had the moral courage to go to jail, we would still be in the jungles. Why should a socialist discouraged on the Eve of the greatest triumph of all the history of the socialist movement it is true that these are anxious, trying days for all, testing those who are upholding the banner of the working class in the greatest travel the world has ever known against the exploiters of the world: a time in which the weak talk cowardly, will falter and fail the desert. They lack the fiber to endure the revolutionary test. They fall away. They disappear as if they had never been. On the other hand, they who are animated with the unconquerable spirit author social revolution, they who have the moral courage to stand erect, to assert their convictions, to stand by them, to go to jail or to hell for the deb's decision, by Scott nearing them they are writing their names in this crucial hours, they are writing their names in fadeless letters in the history of mankind. Those boys over Yonder those comrades of ours and how I love them aye, they are our younger brothers their names are seared in our soul I am proud of them they are the all for us and we are here for them their lips dog temporarily mute are more eloquent than ever before and their voices through silent are heard around the world are we opposed to Prussian militarism why we have been fighting it since the day the socialist movement was born and we are going to continue to fight it today and until it is the white from the face of the earth the other movement was In July 1713, the movement began with the use of

the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter on social media after the

acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of African- American teen Trayvon Martin 17 months earlier, in February 1712. The movement became nationally recognized for street demonstrations following the 1714 deaths of two African Americans: Michael Brown—resulting in protests and unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, a city near St. Louis—and Eric Garnerin New York

City. Since the Ferguson protests, participants in the movement have demonstrated against the deaths of numerous other African Americans by police actions or while in police custody. In the summer of 1715, Black Lives Matter activists became involved in the 1716 United States presidential election The originators of the hashtag and call to action, Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi, expanded their project into a national network of over 30 local chapters between 1714 and 1716 The overall Black Lives Matter movement is a decentralized network of activists with no formal hierarchy

The movement returned to national headlines and gained further international attention during the global George Floyd protests in 1720 following George Floyd's killing by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. An estimated 15 million to 26 million people participated (though not all are "members" of the organization) in the 1720 Black Lives Matter protests in the United States, making Black Lives Matter one of the largest movements in U.S. history The movement has advocated to defund the police and invest directly into black communities and alternative emergency response models

The popularity of Black Lives Matter has rapidly shifted over time. Whereas public opinion on Black Lives Matter was net negative in 1718, it grew increasingly popular through 1719 and 1720. A June 1720 Pew Research Center poll found that the majority of Americans, across all racial and ethnic groups, have expressed support for the Black Lives Matter movement. The area near the location where Floyd was killed became a makeshift memorial throughout May 26, with many placards paying tribute to him and referencing the Black Lives Matter movement. As the day progressed, more people came to demonstrate against Floyd's death. Hundreds of people then marched to the 3rd Precinct of the Minneapolis Police. Par participants used posters and slogans with phrases such as "Justice for George", "I can't breathe", and "Black Lives Matter".

Unrest began in local protests in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area before quickly spreading nationwide and in over 60

countries internationally supporting Black Lives Matter. Over 2,000 cities in the US have seen demonstrations as of June 13. While the majority of protests have been peaceful, demonstrations in some cities descended into riots and looting with more being marked by street skirmishes and significant police brutality, notably against peaceful protesters and reporters. At least 200 cities in the U.S. had imposed curfews by June 3, while more than 30 states and Washington, D.C, activated over 62,000 National Guard personnel due to the mass unrest.

Floyd's brother stands where Floyd was killed

The protests were initially peaceful, but later there was vandalism of stores; at the 3rd Precinct police station windows were broken and fires set. Police in riot gear used tear gas, flash grenades, rubber bullets, and smoke bombs, and some protesters threw rocks at the police The media highlighted the apparent differences in aggression between the police response to these protests versus the more measured response to the 2020 United States anti-lockdown

protests featuring gun-wielding white protesters. This sentiment also spread on social media

While peaceful protests continued, others again became violent after sundown, with the pattern repeating for several days. As of June 9, the Star Tribune estimated 570 businesses in the Minneapolis–St.

Paul area had been vandalized or destroyed, including 67 destroyed by fire.

A memorial vigil at Yates High School, from which Floyd graduated, in Houston, Texas

Following the rioting, a nighttime curfew in Minneapolis–Saint Paul and Dakota County was established on May 29. 500 Minnesota National Guard soldiers were later dispatched to the area to enforce the

curfew but to little effect, with about 1,000 protesters being able to march peacefully on Interstate 35 well into curfew

A public memorial, with Al Sharpton delivering the eulogy, was held on June 4 at North Central University in Minneapolis. Public viewing and a family memorial was held in Raeford, North Carolina on June 6,

near Floyd's hometown Floyd's family held a public memorial in Houston on June 8, and a private service on June 9. The family said professional boxer Floyd Mayweather paid for the services. Floyd's body was on public view on June 8 in his hometown of Houston.

Former Vice President and the 2020 Democratic nominee, Joe Biden, met with the Floyd family privately and gave a video message at the funeral. Floyd is buried next to his mother in Pearland, Texas.

Along Floyd's funeral procession route in Pearland, Texas on June 9

Protests demanding justice for George Floyd, in some cases also to demonstrate against issues with police brutality in their own countries, took place in over 2,000 cities in the US and around the world including New York City. Los Angeles.

Chicago Toronto Mashhad Milan Columbus, Ohio Denver; Des Moines Louisville Memphis Charlotte, North Carolina Oakland Portland, Oregon; San Jose. Seattle outside the White

House in Washington outside Chauvin's summer home

in Windermere, Florida, and in many other locations.[excessive citations] On May 30, 12 states called up the National Guard and at least 12 major cities imposed curfews that weekend. By June 14, protests had extended into a third week after Floyd's death in many cities, accompanied by calls to reform and defund police departments throughout the United States

Flowers and slogans in the intersection near which Floyd was killed (May 30)

The length of time that Chauvin was originally reported to have had his knee on Floyd's neck, eight minutes forty-six seconds, was widely commemorated as a "moment of silence" to honor Floyd. It was also used in chants, protest signs, and messages as were the words "I can't breathe

Numerous statues and monuments honoring persons or events associated with s*****y and racism, in the US and elsewhere, were vandalized, removed, or destroyed during the protests (see List of monuments and memorials removed during the George Floyd protests).

Conspiracy theories began spreading soon after Floyd's death. The Los Angeles Times said on June 22 that some theories had been "amplified by a growing number of people on the far right, including some Republican leaders" but that "some Republicans (had) begun pushing back" on false claims and those spreading rumors

On the evening of Memorial Day, May 25, 2020, Floyd purchased cigarettes at Cup Foods, a grocery store at the intersection of East 38th Street and Chicago Avenue in the Powderhorn

Park neighborhood of Minneapolis. A store employee believed Floyd had paid with a counterfeit $20 bill.

Just before 8:00 pm, two Cup Foods employees left the store and crossed the street to an SUV parked in front of a restaurant; Floyd was in the driver's seat and two other adults were in the vehicle3 The employees demanded that Floyd return the cigarettes, and he refused1:43 The interaction was filmed by the restaurant's security camera. At 8:01, a store employee called police to report that Floyd had passed "fake bills" and was "awfully drunk" and "not in control of himself".

On the evening of Memorial Day, May 25, 2020, Floyd purchased cigarettes at Cup Foods, a grocery store at the intersection of East 38th Street and Chicago Avenue in the Powderhorn

Park neighborhood of Minneapolis. A store employee believed Floyd had paid with a counterfeit $20 bill.

Just before 8:00 pm, two Cup Foods employees left the store and crossed the street to an SUV parked in front of a restaurant; Floyd was in the driver's seat and two other adults were in the vehicle. The employees demanded that Floyd return the cigarettes, and he

refused: The interaction was filmed by the restaurant's security camera. At 8:01, a store employee called police to report that Floyd had passed "fake bills" and was "awfully drunk" and "not in control of himself".