KHOU 11’s Mia Gradney spoke with George Floyd’s younger brother about his memory of that day, the road they’ve been on and what’s ahead.
HOUSTON — This Sunday will mark five years since the murder of George Floyd. His younger brother, Philonise Floyd, has since made equality and justice his life’s work with the Philonise Floyd and Keeta Floyd Institute for Social Change.
We sat down with Philonise Friday in the heart of the family’s beloved Third Ward to reflect on his work and his brother.
Five years later, does it feel like a lifetime or does it feel just like yesterday?
“It’s a lifetime,” he said. ”At the end of the day, my brother was murdered. And what you have to have an understanding, that it’s a life sentence for us. At the end of the day, a police officer, he can go to jail for a little bit of time and all they’re getting is a slap on the wrist and it’s a lot of pain that we’re gonna endure for the rest of our life.”
Do you feel as though you are still grieving?’
“You grieve all the time because birthdays come up. He loved basketball,” Philonise said. “You think about the basketball players that he loved, you see that you think about what we would’ve been eating at this time. Then when your Mother’s Day, when her birthday comes up, you think about how he was feeling and it’s a different thing with conversations, text messages, going out there to see him in Minnesota. We grew up together.”
Do you feel as though you’ve gotten justice for your brother’s death?
“The fact that that guy got a slap on the wrist. He was able to go home at night after he murdered my brother,” Philonise said. “He sat on my brother’s neck. He didn’t care. It’s like he was a big game hunter and he did what he wanted to do and my brother said over and over ‘I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe’ and nobody cared, nobody. Him and his friends, they did what they wanted to do.”
You can see Mia Gradney’s full interview with Philonise Floyd in the video window below
Just this week, police reforms were rolled back in several cities, including Minneapolis. What are your thoughts about that?
“You got a different person in office,” Philonise said. “And they’re doing anything that changed a lot of stuff, but at the end of the day, we gotta be able to stand up and we gotta be able to take that lick and keep on ticking because you never know what God wants for you because he has the best seat in the house and he’s always watching and that’s why I pray and I just try to get myself in a better situation.”
Do you still believe that meaningful police reform is possible?
“The only way it’s possible if you do it,” he said. “Because we can sit here and ask you for it, ‘Can you do this? Can you do that?’ Police reform — we shouldn’t even have to talk about a lot of different things. The officers, all they have to do, these cops, is just do the things that you’re supposed to do.”
What do you think George would have made of your activism?
“I think he would’ve just told me keep fighting,” Philonise said. “He always told me, ‘You have to have heart. That’s the number one goal.’ As long as people know that you’re there, they’re willing to ride with you until the until all the wheels fall off. They are still gonna be there with you and a lot of these people never gave up. They’re still here.”
A lot of those people will join them this weekend. The family has a full day of remembrance and celebration planned for this Sunday. They’ll have a private memorial in the morning, followed then by community celebration at Cuney Homes from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the afternoon. They’ll have food and entertainment with a special moment at 4 p.m. and guest Al Sharpton.