Photo of Marine holding door for Gianna Floyd at White House goes viral
"My daddy changed the world!" Gianna Floyd famously said.
The 7-year-old daughter of George Floyd is melting hearts around the world after an iconic photo went viral showing the moment a Marine guard held the door as she entered the West Wing of the White House.
Gianna Floyd and her family visited with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday, the one-year anniversary of her father’s murder by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
Read More: Color of Change, Innocence Project call for Texas to posthumously pardon George Floyd
“My daddy changed the world,” young Gianna once said and words that President Biden holds close to his heart. On Tuesday, she spent the day playing with the commander-in-chief, theGrio reported. Chris Stewart, one of the Floyd family lawyers, said “she had an absolute ball” with Biden. The president also told reporters that the child asked him for some snacks and she was given ice cream and Cheetos.
Gianna was photographed entering the White House by Associated Press Chief Photographer Evan Vucci, whose photo of the little girl and the Marine sparked an outpouring of emotional reactions on Twitter. Gianna reportedly led a “say his name” chant in honor of her late father as her family gathered outside the White House on Tuesday.
The Floyd family and their legal team met with Biden and Harris to call on lawmakers to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. Earlier on Tuesday, theGrio exclusively reported that negotiations on the Hill have been stalled as Republicans call for support from police organizations for the legislation. So far, no formal comments from any of the policing agencies and organizations have been issued on this matter.
Attorney Ben Crump, who represents the family, addressed the press after their meeting with Biden. TheGrio was on the scene and asked Crump about his thoughts on the sticking point between Democrats and Republicans over the passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.
“We don’t think that it has to be one against the other. It should be that we all want better policing. We all want just policing for George Floyd [and Breonna Taylor] … their blood is on this legislation,” Crump said to theGrio‘s April Ryan outside the White House.
“We can do this together. This is an American issue. This isn’t a police issue or a civil rights issue — we have to look at this as a national issue that we have avoided dealing with for far too long.”
Read More: Inside George Floyd family’s meeting with President Biden and Congress
Attorney Justin Miller, another lawyer at the press conference, highlighted that the family is seeking expedient action on protections against police brutality as seen with Congress’ ability to move on similar bills aimed at preventing violence against racial groups.
“There have been other bills that have been passed in the last three months affecting different groups of people. This group of people needs to be protected too,” Miller said. “This started a long time ago. There are some things that started a lot sooner that got protected a lot faster.”
Philonise Floyd, brother of George Floyd, told reporters after the presidential meeting, “we just want this George Floyd Policing Act to be passed in the future.”
Check out some of the reactions to Gianna’s moment with the U.S. Marine below. One user described the imagery as “simply symbolism without policy.”
*This story contains additional reporting by April Ryan.
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