'That's not going to bring my brother back': Terrence Floyd calls for an end to looting and tells people to vote in a powerful speech

Terrence Floyd.JPG
Terrence Floyd at a makeshift memorial for his brother George at the spot where he was arrested in Minneapolis on June 1.

REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

  • Terrence Floyd called on people to stop looting and encouraged them to channel their frustration into voting at a makeshift memorial for his brother George Floyd.

  • "I'm not over here wilding out. If I'm not over here blowing up stuff, if I'm not over here messing with my community, then what are y'all doing?" he said of people engaging in violence and looting.

  • "Let's stop thinking that our voice don't matter and vote," he said. "Not just for the president, but vote for the preliminaries. Vote for everybody. Educate yourself."

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In a moving speech at a makeshift memorial at the spot where George Floyd died in Minneapolis, his brother Terrence Floyd called on community members to stop looting and encouraged them to channel their frustration into voting instead.

Over the past week, people have protested in dozens of cities across the US in response to George Floyd's death. While most of the protests were peaceful, some became violent when the police clashed with protesters. Some protests involved smaller groups looting businesses and, in a few cases, setting fire to buildings and cars.

Floyd died on May 25 shortly after four police officers arrested him in Minneapolis. On Friday afternoon, prosecutors announced that one of the officers, Derek Chauvin, who was recorded pinning his knee on Floyd's neck for eight minutes, had been arrested and charged with third-degree murder. All four officers were fired on Tuesday.

"I understand y'all are upset. But I doubt y'all are half as upset as I am," Terrence Floyd said at the beginning of his speech on Monday.

"So if I'm not over here wilding out, if I'm not over here blowing up stuff, if I'm not over here messing with my community, then what are y'all doing? Y'all doing nothing, but that's not going to bring my brother back at all," he said, adding, "My family is a peaceful family. My family is God-fearing."

Floyd told the crowd that while looting and destroying property may feel good or righteous in the moment, it ultimately achieves nothing toward changing the system and ends up hurting the cause of ending police brutality even further.

"In every case of police brutality, the same thing has been happening: Y'all protest; y'all destroy stuff, and they don't move. You know why they don't move? Because it's not their stuff. It's our stuff, so they want us to destroy our stuff. So let's do this another way," he said.

He then made an impassioned plea for people to educate themselves on the issues and candidates at hand and vote at every level.

"Let's stop thinking that our voice don't matter and vote," he said. "Not just for the president, but vote for the preliminaries. Vote for everybody. Educate yourself. Don't wait for somebody else to tell you who's who. Educate yourself and know who you're voting for."

"Let's switch it up, y'all. Let's switch it up and do this peacefully, please," he said, adding of his brother, "I know he would not want y'all to be doing this." He then led a chant of "peace on the left, justice on the right."

Watch Terrence Floyd's full speech here:

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