Philonise Floyd, George Floyd’s younger brother, told lawmakers on Wednesday he wants to ensure his brother’s death means change for the country.
In an emotional opening statement at the House’s hearing on police brutality, Mr. Floyd described how his brother sacrificed for others in his life and tried to follow police orders on the day he died in Minnesota while in police custody.
“I can’t tell you the kind of pain you feel when you watch something like that. When you watch your big brother, who you’ve looked up to your whole life, die — die begging for your mom,” Mr. Floyd said.
“I’m tired. I’m tired of the pain I’m feeling now, and I’m tired of the pain I feel every time another black person is killed for no reason,” he added. “I’m here today to ask you to make it stop. Stop the pain. Stop us from being killed.”
Both House Judiciary Chair Jerrold Nadler, New York Democrat, and Ranking Member Jim Jordan, Ohio Republican, offered their condolences for Mr. Floyd’s loss.
Mr. Floyd died after a white former police officer, Derek Chauvin, kneeled on his neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds. The killing went viral online, sparking nationwide and global outrage and renewed the debate on racial inequality and calls for police reform.
Mr. Chauvin was charged with second-degree murder.
The other former officers on the scene — Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng, and Tou Thao — were also charged on Wednesday with aiding and abetting murder and aiding and abetting manslaughter.
Wednesday’s hearing comes as Democrats work on moving forward with their sweeping overhaul on policing in the U.S. that would mandate anti-bias training, impose national use-of-force standards and make it easier to sue officers for misconduct in the line of duty.
“If his death ends up changing the world for the better — and I think it will, I think it has — then he died as he lived. It is on you to make sure his death isn’t in vain,” Mr. Floyd said.
