Stuart Lawrence was watching television with his wife and young son when he first saw the murder of George Floyd.
The family had listened to a coronavirus update when, without warning, shocking images of a police officer Derek chauvin kneeling on the neck of Mr. Floyd appeared on the screen.
Stuart’s son Theo, then nine years old, turned to his father and said, “Why did the policeman put his knee on this man’s neck like that?”
Stuart Lawrence was 16 when his brother Stephen was murdered
“We quickly turned it off… it was horrible,” Stuart told Sky News.
“I had to try to explain to my son why a policeman had his knee on a man’s neck.”
A year after Mr. Floyd’s death, Stuart knows from personal experience that the American family faces more “dark days” in the public spotlight.
Stuart was 16 when his 18-year-old brother Stephen lawrence was killed by a racist gang in Eltham, south-east London, in April 1993.
Stephen Lawrence pictured with his brother Stuart. Pic: The Lawrence family
“My experience will never be their experience, but I can certainly tell them some things that are going to happen,” Stuart says of Mr. Floyd’s family.
“The real detail of the pain, the pain, the angst, the emotional side of it all, is their journey that they’re going to have to find a way to.
“They’re going to have dark days, sure. They will have days when they think they will never smile or laugh again, but they will.
“These days when you smile or laugh, you just have to hang on to them because these days are pure and rare.”
Stuart says he often thinks of Mr. Floyd’s seven-year-old daughter “who is going to miss so much.”
George Floyd’s ex-partner Roxie Washington and daughter Gianna
“She will never ask her father to walk her down the aisle,” …
More information about this article Read More
Source: news.sky.com
This notice was published: 2021-05-18 09:32:00
