Ex-NBA player: George Floyd was his ‘Twin’
“My boy was doing what he was supposed to do, man, and y’all go kill my brother, man.”
— Stephen Jackson
George Floyd died Monday in police custody, with video of his death sparking outrage across the nation and violent protests in Minneapolis. For one former NBA player, the loss was very personal.
Stephen Jackson, who spent 14 seasons with the New Jersey Nets, San Antonio Spurs, Atlanta Hawks, Indiana Pacers, Golden State Warriors, Charlotte Bobcats, Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Clippers, said in a series of emotional social media posts that Floyd “was my brother” and they called each other “Twin.”
“This is what I got to wake up to, huh?” Jackson said Tuesday in an Instagram video posted. “This is what I got to wake up to. Floyd was my brother, man. We called each other ‘Twin,’ bruh. Everybody know me and Floyd called each other ‘Twin,’ and My brother was only out there in Minnesota, he was changing his life. He went to Minnesota. He was driving trucks. I just sent him two, three boxes of clothes.
“My boy was doing what he was supposed to do, man, and y’all go kill my brother, man. I’m on my way to Minnesota, man. Whatever I can do, can’t let this ride, dog. Y’all not going to be mad until it hits you front door. Bull----.”
Jackson is 42, four years younger than Floyd. Both grew up in the Houston area.
Floyd died Monday after an encounter with police. A 10minute video of the incident, taken by a bystander, showed officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on the neck of an unarmed black man as he pleaded, “I can’t breathe.” Floyd was pronounced dead at Hennepin County Medical Center.
Video of Floyd’s final moments are disturbing and, for Jackson, they “just destroyed me. I haven’t been the same since I’ve seen it,” he said Thursday on the “Today” show, describing the moment when he realized the man was his lifelong friend. Protests in Minneapolis intensified Wednesday, and Jackson said that wasn’t how Floyd would want to be remembered.
“He would be happy that people were fighting for him,” Jackson said, “but that’s not he way he’d want to do it. He’d want the people responsible for his death penalized. He wasn’t the type of people to hurt innocent people. … [He] would want everybody standing together fighting for justice.”
The four officers involved immediately were fired, and Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey called for the officer involved to be prosecuted.
Nicknamed “Big Floyd,” Floyd was a resident of St. Louis Park, Minn., and had worked for five years as a security guard at a Minneapolis bistro. “The way he died, he was begging for his life,” Jovanni Thunstrom, the owner and Floyd’s landlord, told the Star Tribune. “I just hope he gets some justice.”
Jackson hopes so, too. “Can’t let this ride,” he wrote on Instagram. He also posted that all Floyd “wanted to do was stay fly and be great.” He included an image of Floyd and wrote that he had “called me with pics of the outfits laid across the bed showing how he was gonna kill them with the clothes I sent him. Boxes in the background.
“It meant the world to him but meant the world to me how he wanted the world to know that we called each other twin. Nobody was more proud of my growth and my fatherhood more than #BigFloydDaGod. We will get justice. They will be writing a big check for your kids on behalf of Minnesota Police Dept. and u can bet dat Jack. Rest Easy Twin u wasn’t suppose to make it through the life u had change for the better then go out like this.”