Inside George Floyd family’s meeting with President Biden and Congress

“My daddy changed the world,” these are the words of young Gianna Floyd that President Joe Biden holds close to his heart, and on Tuesday, the 7-year-old daughter of George Floyd spent the day playing with the commander-in-chief. 

Last year, after her father’s horrific police-involved murder, Gianna said those words and became a major focal point of the effort to pass legislation in her father’s name. 

In addition to Gianna Floyd, several of George Floyd’s brothers met with President Biden for about an hour at the White House while members of the Floyd family met with Vice President Kamala Harris. Mega rapper Lil Baby, who accompanied the family, was also part of the contingent meeting with Vice President Harris.  

Read More: Don’t let the anniversary of Geroge Floyd’s murder be an excuse to ignore history

Lil Baby told theGrio that the day was “great” and he was “excited to be here.” The hip-hop star, who invoked George Floyd and the global protests that followed after it in his song “The Bigger Picture,” gave those comments as he and the family departed from the White House complex to arrive at Capitol Hill.

Attorney Ben Crump, who represents the family, addressed the press after their meeting with Biden. TheGrio was on the scene and asked Attorney Crump about his thoughts on the sticking point between Democrats and Republicans over the passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. 

Earlier on Tuesday, theGrio exclusively reported that negotiations on the Hill have been stalled as Republicans call for support from police organizations for the legislation. So far, no formal comments from any of the policing agencies and organizations have been issued on this matter. 

“We don’t think that it has to be one against the other. It should be that we all want better policing. We all want just policing for George Floyd [and Breonna Taylor] … their blood is on this legislation,” Crump said to theGrio‘s April Ryan outside the White House.

“We can do this together. This is an American issue. This isn’t a police issue or a civil rights issue — we have to look at this as a national issue that we have avoided dealing with for far too long.”

Attorney Justin Miller, another lawyer at the press conference, highlighted that the family is seeking expedient action on protections against police brutality as seen with Congress’ ability to move on similar bills aimed at preventing violence against racial groups. 

“There have been other bills that have been passed in the last three months affecting different groups of people. This group of people needs to be protected too,” Miller said. “This started a long time ago. There are some things that started a lot sooner that got protected a lot faster.”

Philonise Floyd, brother of George Floyd, told reporters after the presidential meeting, “we just want this George Floyd Policing Act to be passed in the future.”  

Crump said he was going directly to the Hill with the family of Floyd to speak with Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) and Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) in an effort to move the bill forward.

During his joint address to Congress in April, President Biden said he wanted to sign the bill into law on the one-year anniversary of Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Last month, Chauvin was convicted in Floyd’s murder and is now in jail as he awaits sentencing on June 25, 2021. 

Three officers have yet to be tried for their part in Floyd’s murder in which his air intake was diminished as Chauvin knelt on his neck and back for over 9 minutes as the other officers stood by and failed to intervene.

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