A variety of people and organizations reacted to the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, during an arrest by Minneapolis police. This includes his family and friends, politicians and other political organizations, the police, and other institutions and businesses, including internationally. This is aside from the George Floyd protests.
Family and friends
Floyd's cousin, Tera Brown, said police "were supposed to be there to serve and to protect and I didn't see a single one of them lift a finger to do anything to help while he was begging for his life". One of Floyd's brothers said: "They could have tased him; they could have maced him. Instead, they put their knee in his neck and just sat on him and then carried on. They treated him worse than they treat animals." Floyd's brother, Philonese, called for peace and said, "Everybody has a lot of pain right now, that's why this is happening, I'm tired of seeing black people dying."
Floyd's longtime friend, former professional basketball player Stephen Jackson, expressed anger and sadness, saying video of Floyd's murder "just destroyed me". Floyd's girlfriend, Courtney Ross, asked for the community to respond to his murder in a way that honors him: "You can't fight fire with fire. Everything just burns, and I've seen it all daypeople hate, they're hating, they're hating, they're mad. And he would not want that." Selwyn Jones, the brother of Floyd's mother, said that what disturbed him most was "hearing him on video call for my sister".
Political
Minneapolis and Minnesota
Minneapolis city councillor Andrea Jenkins, who represented Ward 8, where Floyd was murdered, was quoted as saying: "My heart is breaking for the tragic loss of life last night near 38th and Chicago. Our community continues to be traumatized again, and again and again. We must demand answers." On May 26, Minnesota governor Tim Walz and lieutenant governor Peggy Flanagan demanded justice and called the video "disturbing". Walz elaborated, "The lack of humanity in this disturbing video is sickening. We will get answers and seek justice".
Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey said: "Being black in America should not be a death sentence. For five minutes, we watched a white officer press his knee into a black man's neck ... When you hear someone calling for help, you're supposed to help. This officer failed in the most basic, human sense." Two days after Floyd's murder, he commented: "If most people, particularly people of color, had done what a police officer did late Monday, they'd already be behind bars." He has said that he believes Floyd's death was a murder.
U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar (whose district includes Minneapolis) called for a federal investigation and said: "It is sickening to watch this black man be killed while helplessly begging for help." She later added: "The police officer who killed George Floyd should be charged with murder." Senator Tina Smith and Governor Tim Walz also called for immediate action. Senator Amy Klobuchar reacted on the following day, saying: "We heard his repeated calls for help. We heard him say over and over again that he could not breathe. And now we have seen yet another horrifying and gut wrenching instance of an African American man dying." She called for the declaration on "a complete and thorough outside investigation into what occurred, and those involved in this incident must be held accountable." However, as a former Hennepin County attorney, she was criticized for declining to press criminal charges against police during her eight years in that office, including against Chauvin; some called for her resignation from the Senate.
At a June 7 rally, nine of the Minneapolis City Council's thirteen members pledged to disband the city's police department, though significant reductions in police staffing may require amending the city's charter and Frey has expressed opposition to it. On June 12 the council unanimously adopted a resolution to begin a year-long project to develop "strategies for building [a] new model for cultivating community safety". After the City Council banned police chokeholds, Walz called for similar reforms in other communities, called the Minnesota legislature into a special session on police reform and economic equality and proposed a police reform package.