'He's Changing People's Hearts': Courteney Ross, George Floyd's Girlfriend, Hopes His Movement Brings Major Change
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- George Floyd's daughter, Gianna, said her father would change the world. If you ask Floyd's girlfriend, he already has.
Courteney Ross believes justice was served Tuesday, when a jury found former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin guilty on all counts in Floyd's murder.
"A lot of times, I just spend my mornings crying," Ross said.
For close to a year, she says she starts her day looking at pictures of the love of her life.
"The first, you know, person I see is Floyd," she said.
For three years, they shared their dreams, fears, laughs and tears. She felt alone in her loss until she visited the spot where he died on May 25, 2020, at East 38th Street and Chicago Avenue -- now called George Floyd Square.
"I remember as we started to walk and I started to look down the sides of the street and people were holding up signs with his name on it and chanting his name, and I thought, 'Is this real?'" Ross said.
She says it's the support and prayers of family, friends and people she's never met that's kept her going.
"Especially yesterday, I felt just so lifted up when I was walking to the courthouse," she said. "I felt like I was on air."
Hearing the word "guilty" three times brought her to tears. She is hopeful Floyd's death will lead to change, and honest conversations about the need to transform policing.
"It's time to dig in and make radical changes in the system so we don't continue those actions," Ross said.
Actions that also claimed the life of Daunte Wright, a young man she taught for two years at Edison High School.
"I'm still in shock about Daunte," she said.
Ross hopes the movement that George Floyd sparked continues to bring about change.
"He's changing people's hearts. That's what he really, that's what he would really want to do," she said. "He's a man of God and a man of love, and he really, he believed in that, and he's doing it."
Ross hopes the community surrounds Wright's family and friends with the same love and support she has felt.