George Floyd's Brother Condemns Violent Protests, Calls for Peace and Justice

A looted clothing store in Philadelphia.
A looted clothing store in Philadelphia after weekend protests turned violent.Getty

Terrence Floyd's calls came as some said that white agitators were fomenting violence and destruction in demonstrations that had been non-violent.

The brother of George Floyd is calling for an end to violent protests across the country in the name of his slain sibling. "I get angry, I want to bust some heads, too," Terrence Floyd told ABC News. "I wanna ... just go crazy. But I’m here. My brother wasn’t about that. My brother was about peace. You’ll hear a lot of people say he was a gentle giant."

He spoke against protesters who have looted businesses and destroyed property.

"It's OK to be angry, but channel your anger to do something positive or make a change another way because we've been down this road already," he said. "The anger, damaging your hometown is not the way he'd want."

George Floyd, 46, died on Memorial Day in Minneapolis Police Department custody. Now fired officer Derek Chauvin was seen in viral video kneeling on Floyd's neck as he repeatedly said, "I can't breathe" and called for his mother.

Chauvin was charged Friday with third-degree murder and manslaughter. Three other officers involved in detaining Floyd are under investigation, according to authorities.

Terrence Floyd's appeals echoed those from black politicians, community leaders and peaceful protesters. Some have publicly complained that white agitators were fomenting violence and destruction in demonstrations that had been non-violent.

In Denver, Tay Anderson posted video of him confronting a white man who spray-painted "ACAB," an acronym for "all cops are b*******" on a wall during a demonstration. Anderson, a school board director and community activist, is black.

"Stop! That's not what we wanted!" Anderson can be seen shouting at the tagger in the video, which quickly went viral.

Later, Anderson told BuzzFeed News, "It wasn't black and brown folks that were antagonizing police. It was white people throwing stuff at them," he said. "And then when they kept throwing bags of urine, cans, and water bottles, that's when the police snapped and they started tear-gassing innocent bystanders."

Black business owners also lamented that violent demonstrators were damaging the black community.

But in Washington, D.C., where tea shop owner Michelle Brown saw her eatery burn and called her loss "heartbreaking," but said there was a bigger issue at hand.

She wants her customers to focus on racism and suffering affecting the country. "Any kind of issue like this seems pretty minor,” she told The Washington Post. "We have been through three months of being closed, we have seen 100,000 people die. I think the protests are great, and I think they are warranted."

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