When I met Big Floyd, I met Big Floyd with
Resurrection Houston, with Pastor P.T.
We were all together.
And so, we were coming into George’s home.
We were coming into Third Ward as visitors.
And so, we were hopeful to find what we call
a person of peace, which is someone who is
from Third Ward, who is loved there, who’s
respected there, so that we can connect with
the community and serve from a genuine place.
And we were extremely fortunate to meet George.
George was already — as you know, as you
can see, as you’ve heard countless times,
George was already preaching peace, love,
God, unity, advocating against gun violence.
He was already doing that before we showed
up.
And so, when we got there, George basically
said, “If it’s God business, then it’s
my business.”
And so, that was our introduction.
We would shoot visuals and have Bible studies
and different things like that in the community,
and George came alongside us, saying, “Whatever
you need, however I can serve,” you know,
let people in the community know we’re good
— “Welcome them.
You know, they’re helping us” — a lot
of things that we could never accomplish by ourself.
I’m from a neighborhood like Third Ward
in Houston.
And you can’t just go into a neighborhood
and do what you want to.
You desperately need someone like Floyd to
usher you into the community.
And that’s who he was.
When I think about the biggest takeaway from
my experience with Floyd, it’s the unity
that he preached.
George is a big guy, but then, once you’re
around him and people who know him, you see
that every — all of his respect and admiration
is gained through love.
It’s through nothing else but love.
He just happens to be a real big guy.
But the unity, the mentoring, from guys who
were kids in elementary school who are now
grown men, who have stories of George taking
care of them, putting money in their pocket,
you know, just looking out for them, and not
even a blood relation.
You know, so, when I found out about what
happened to George, I was actually making
the video commentating on the Central Park
incident, where a white lady called the police
on a Black man, saying that he was threatening
her life.
So I was making that video when my friend
Reconcile, who did ministry with us, as well,
sent me the video about George.
So, just the weight of that and everything
that’s been going on, the way I feel is
how we see on videos across the world how
we’re all feeling right now.
I can speak on, in communities around the
nation that are disenfranchised, marginalized,
low-income, all these communities that politicians
and people in general say need change, need
change and uplifting and all of these things,
George was a leader of that movement.
George was the advocate of change.
George can’t simply be replaced.
The neighborhoods that are spoken about oftentimes
that need so much radical reformation, you
can’t just drop in people or information
for change.
It has to be from a genuine, holistic place.
And that’s what George represented inside
of that community.
And I believe there are versions of what George
represents all around the nation.
But just like a person like George was able
to be dehumanized and murdered, and now we
have to even fight for justice, shows the
lack of reverence and respect for those change
makers, that maybe don’t look like what
we think they should look like.
But if you get a pulse from the culture and
the people, as you can clearly see, these
are the difference makers.
And so, my prayer is that people will understand
that it has to be a level of justice and respect
and a humanizing factor for us, for people
of color, in order for the change that’s
happening to continue.
And George fully embodied, through his life,
everything that that represents, and I hope
that we will forever be changed by it.
