20-05-2025
George Floyd's 11-year-old daughter Gianna shares what cruel bullies are doing to her at school
George Floyd 's young daughter has been targeted by school bullies who use 'the nasty things' people say about her father to harass her.
Five years after Floyd's death at the hands of Minneapolis police, his daughter Gianna, 11, and her relatives revealed the painful reality of the bullying she's faced at home in Texas.
'They've teased her at school,' read a column in the Minnesota Star-Tribune wrote. 'They know about her father and the nasty things bad people say about him, so they repeat those words.'
Gianna's mother, Roxie, said that she wrestles with how to respond - torn between encouraging her daughter to stand up for herself and rushing to the school for answers.
Gianna went viral in 2020 when, at just six years old, she sat on the shoulders of former NBA star Stephen Jackson, a close friend of her father's, and shouted to the crowd, 'Daddy changed the world!'
Five years later, the legacy of his death has become a source of cruelty for his daughter.
On May 25, 2020, white police office Derek Chauvin fatally pressed his knee into Floyd's neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds outside a Minneapolis convenience store after arresting him on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill to buy cigarettes.
His death sparked global protests against police brutality and racial injustice.
Chauvin was convicted in April 2021 of murdering Floyd and sentenced to more than 22 years in prison.
Since his killing, critics and commentators have repeatedly pointed to Floyd's personal history - his past addiction, criminal record, and the toxicology report from his autopsy - in an attempt to discredit the movement his murder ignited.
Gianna and her relatives revealed the painful reality she faces: relentless bullying tied to the tragic and highly publicized circumstances of her father's death
Floyd had openly battled opioid addiction, a struggle he shared with his girlfriend, Courteney Ross.
During Chauvin's trial, Ross testified that both she and Floyd became addicted after being prescribed opioids for chronic pain.
His family has acknowledged those struggles, but emphasized they do not justify the way he died.
Floyd's criminal record included multiple arrests, mostly for nonviolent offenses. In 2009, he pleaded guilty to a 2007 aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon and served five years in prison.
One of his earlier convictions - from 2004, for having a small amount of cocaine - was later scrutinized due to the involvement of a Houston police officer who was later indicted for fabricating evidence in other cases.
A toxicology report from the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office found fentanyl and methamphetamine in Floyd's system at the time of his death.
Chauvin's defense team argued the drugs contributed to his death, but medical experts - including Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Andrew Baker - testified that Floyd died of 'cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression,' with drug use considered a contributing factor, not the primary cause.
Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro has launched an effort to pardon Chauvin with an open letter to Donald Trump, calling his conviction 'the defining achievement of the Woke movement in American politics
The letter claims that Chauvin did not murder Floyd because he was 'high on fentanyl' and 'had a significant pre-existing heart condition,' complaining of trouble breathing before the incident that ended his life.
'Perhaps most significantly, there was massive overt pressure on the jury to return a guilty verdict regardless of the evidence or any semblance of impartial deliberation,' Shapiro said.
Elon Musk reposted a video on X of Shapiro arguing for Chauvin to be pardoned by the president and commented: 'Something to think about.'
Shapiro added that the incident would allow the country to 'turn the page' on the 'Woke' era and end 'the weaponization of the American justice system.'
