On the day George Floyd was laid to rest, Texas Southern University announced it would give a full scholarship to the 6-year-old whose father’s death in custody has spurred global demands for an end to police brutality.
TSU’s Board of Regents, with its foundation board, “has approved a fund to provide a full scholarship for Floyd’s beloved daughter, Gianna,” the university announced in a social media post. “TSU’s executive and academic staff will prepare a place for Miss Floyd if she wishes to attend the University.”
George Floyd was born in North Carolina and grew up in Houston, where he graduated from Jack Yates High School in the shadow of TSU. Floyd later moved to Minneapolis, where he died on May 25 while detained by police.
“My daddy changed the world,” Gianna says in a video posted last week by Floyd’s close friend, NBA player Stephen Jackson. “Daddy changed the world.”
Attorneys for Gianna’s mother have said they hope the public takes away an image of Floyd beyond his altercation with police.
“We wanted the world to see the beauty of Gianna,” attorney L. Chris Stewart has said.
Floyd’s funeral took place Tuesday in Houston. His family was joined by relatives of other black people who lost their lives at the hands of police.
“Your family is going to miss you George, but your nation is going to always remember your name. Because your neck was one that represents all of us, and how you suffered is how we all suffer,” the Rev. Al Sharpton said during the funeral.
Floyd was buried next to his mother, whom he called for as he was dying.
