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In tribute to the memory of George Floyd, scholarship and service awards have been established at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
The two awards are:
All awards will be made through the Office of Associate Chancellor Office of Diversity at SIUC. Phone number 618-453-1186. The winner will be notified by email by August 6, 2021.
George Floyd, a resident of St. Louis Park, Minnesota, died Monday, May 25, 2020, at the age of 46 while in the custody of Minneapolis police officers. His untimely death sparked nationwide protests calling for an end to to racial inequity and injustice.
Floyd was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and grew up in Houston, Texas. At the time of his death, he worked as a security guard at Conga Latin Bistro. Floyd is survived by three children.
The six-foot-seven "gentle giant" was a star high school star football and basketball player. NBA champion basketball player and ESPN analyst Stephen Jackson, who was Floyd’s longtime friend, said in an in an Instagram post that "Floyd was my brother, we called each other twin." In another, Jackson said: "If he needed me, I was there for him… I think he was closer to me than some of my own family."
Floyd's partner Courteney Ross told KARE-11 News in Minneapolis: "He was not only the man I loved, but the man I admired. He taught me how to be a better person." Childhood friend Christopher Harris told NPR: "If he had a stamp and it had his signature on it, it would be his smile. It literally lit up a room." "I want people to know that George Floyd was a caring person," his Yates High School football and basketball teammate Jonathan Veal told KWTX News 10 in Texas. "His personality and his heart for others was equal or greater to his physical stature, and he always had a heart to give back."
