'George Floyd changed the world': Public viewing in Houston honors the man behind the social justice movement
'George Floyd changed the world': Public viewing in Houston honors the man behind the social justice movement By Rick Jervis, USA TODAY
HOUSTON – Before his death made him a catalyst for global protests, George Floyd mentored young men at the Cuney Homes housing project in Houston's Third Ward, urging them to quit violence and seek a better life.
When Tiffany Cofield, then a teacher at Hope Academy charter school in the Third Ward, struggled to connect with her most troubled students, she turned to Floyd for help. Floyd, who was 40 at the time, was disarmingly soft-spoken and listened to Cofield’s complaints and aspirations for the kids, she said.
More importantly, her students listened to Floyd. One boy was a talented football player struggling to keep his grades up. After Cofield recruited Floyd to talk to him, the student’s grades suddenly improved. He graduated high school and went on to play football at a junior college, Cofield said.
“There were times he had more of an impact than their own parents,” she said of Floyd's relationship with her students. “They didn’t want to disappoint him.”
Memorials in Houston this week honored Floyd, 46, who died while in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25. The former police officer who pressed his knee into Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes during the arrest was arrested and charged with second-degree murder, and three other officers on the scene were charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder.
READ MORE: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/george-f...
HOUSTON – Before his death made him a catalyst for global protests, George Floyd mentored young men at the Cuney Homes housing project in Houston's Third Ward, urging them to quit violence and seek a better life.
When Tiffany Cofield, then a teacher at Hope Academy charter school in the Third Ward, struggled to connect with her most troubled students, she turned to Floyd for help. Floyd, who was 40 at the time, was disarmingly soft-spoken and listened to Cofield’s complaints and aspirations for the kids, she said.
More importantly, her students listened to Floyd. One boy was a talented football player struggling to keep his grades up. After Cofield recruited Floyd to talk to him, the student’s grades suddenly improved. He graduated high school and went on to play football at a junior college, Cofield said.
“There were times he had more of an impact than their own parents,” she said of Floyd's relationship with her students. “They didn’t want to disappoint him.”
Memorials in Houston this week honored Floyd, 46, who died while in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25. The former police officer who pressed his knee into Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes during the arrest was arrested and charged with second-degree murder, and three other officers on the scene were charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder.
READ MORE: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/george-f...
Leave the poor man alone.