Gianna Floyd Targeted by Bullies Amid Renewed Attacks on Her Father’s Legacy
Five years after George Floyd’s death, his daughter Gianna Floyd is still dealing with the kind of hate the world vowed to confront.
The young girl, who once stood on the shoulders of retired NBA player Stephen Jackson and declared, “Daddy changed the world,” now 11, is being bullied at her Texas middle school—mocked and taunted by classmates repeating the same right-wing talking points used to discredit her father’s legacy.
“They’ve teased her at school,” a Minneapolis Star Tribune editorial reported. “They know about her father and the nasty things bad people say about him, so they repeat those words.”
Her mother, Roxie Washington, is struggling with how to respond. “Do I run up to the school and act like ‘Who did what?’ Or do I let her fight her own battle?” she said. “I don’t want her to feel like she’s by herself. But I want her to be able to stand on her own two feet.”
The emotional toll on Gianna comes as conservative figures amplify efforts to rewrite the facts surrounding Floyd’s death.
Ben Shapiro, who has launched a campaign to pardon Derek Chauvin, falsely claims Floyd died of a drug overdose—despite the medical examiner’s conclusion that Floyd died from “cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression.”
Chauvin was convicted of murder and is serving 22½ years in prison.
