Willis’ father: A protective papa bear to the rescue

Greed, hubris, obfuscation, cruelty and self-righteousness have been in evidence as courts from New York to Georgia have considered former president Donald Trump’s business practices. But in Fulton County, where a judge contemplates whether to remove District Attorney Fani Willis from the election tampering case her office brought against Trump and his motley associates, the country got a glimpse of something that, while not rare, too often goes unacknowledged by the public: A Black father’s protective embrace of his daughter.

John Floyd III was called to the witness stand to speak in support of Willis, his only daughter — the one who grew up mostly with him when her parents separated. The retired attorney returned to Georgia, where he once lived with his daughter at a house she’d proudly purchased but soon had to leave due to harassment and death threats.

His daughter’s actions laid the groundwork for this hearing. She was involved in a romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, whom she’d hired to work on the Trump case.

When Floyd settled into the witness chair, he recalled how terrible things were at Willis’ house after she was sworn in as district attorney in 2021 and filed her case against Trump. People assembled out front and shouted racist obscenities and sexist profanities into the dawn. They made bomb threats. Willis moved out but her father stayed. He stayed for the same reason papa bears are the ones who make sure there’s gas in their daughter’s car, that they have taxi fare home when they head out on a date and that they never doubt just how smart and powerful they really are. He stayed because that’s what fathers do.

“I knew that was a house that my daughter had worked for. It was a brand new house ... And I stayed there to basically take care of the house, to take care of the yard,” Floyd said. “Also, somebody sprayed, again, the b-word and n-word on the house. And I don’t think my daughter even knew that. I cleaned it off and called the police.”

Floyd went to court because Willis was doing as he’d taught by keeping significant amounts of cash on hand. Cash was the subject of skepticism and dismay during Willis’ contentious testimony. She reimbursed Wade for her share of their expenses, she said, and she did so in cash.

Who keeps that much money around? Willis kept it because her father told her to. Because you never know what might happen. Because sometimes, even if you have a credit card, cash might be the only thing that can get you out of a jam. Floyd knew from experience. His credit was once denied in a Cambridge restaurant when he was studying at Harvard on a fellowship, but his cash was accepted.

These were the details of Floyd’s testimony, and whether they will be helpful in keeping Willis from being removed from her own case is something Judge Scott McAfee will decide. But for about 20 minutes, the public bore witness to the warmhearted counsel of a Black father – a figure that is often caricatured in or disappeared from America’s family portraits. Folks listening to him talk about how he needed to take care of his daughter’s house and watch over the yard all while dealing with bomb threats, knew there was a lot of painful American history rolled up in that defiant and courageous caretaking. But in his words and demeanor, he acknowledged the most he could do for Willis was offer her wisdom and grace. To stand by her in a way no one else could.

And when lawyers, citizens and pundits questioned who Willis claimed to be, he was there to let folks know she was the woman he nurtured. She is John Floyd’s child.