THE DAILY BEAST
Every day, Selwyn Jones misses his nephew, George Floyd.
Today marks four years since Floyd, 46, was killed while in the custody of the Minneapolis Police Department. In death, he has become a martyr—a symbol of the oppression and violence routinely visited on Black people by the forces of law and order.
But to his uncle, he was a big, good-natured guy who loved to laugh. That’s the person Jones misses seeing and talking to, he told The Daily Beast.
Jones said he was playing softball in Gettysburg, S.D., the small town in the center of the state where he lives, when he learned of his nephew’s death under the knee of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
Floyd’s death inspired Jones to start campaigning against police violence, as well as speaking out against domestic violence, gun violence and sex trafficking.
“I’m trying to make a difference,” Jones said.
He has made numerous appearances across the country and conducted countless media interviews. Jones said he feels a duty to speak up so other families don’t have to endure the pain he has been forced to live with for the last four years.
“It’s been absolutely chaotic ever since,” he said.
Jones started by appearing at demonstrations over Floyd’s death in Rapid City and Sioux Falls that week. He asked for the events to be nonviolent, but the Sioux Falls rally, which had been peaceful, ended in chaos with some people storming a mall and Gov. Kristi Noem calling in the National Guard.
Since then, Jones has toured the country, appearing in Chicago, St. Louis, Dallas and other major cities. He also has launched a podcast called Setting It Straight, was featured in GQ magazine in 2020, and now has a media consultant, George Savage of New York City, who describes himself as “an international publicity ninja and strategist.”
On April 18, Jones took part in a Harvard University symposium, called “Channeling Grief Into Activism” that also featured Gwen Carr. She is the mother of the late Eric Garner, a 43-year-old Black man who was put in a chokehold by New York City Police Officer Daniel Pantaleo on July 17, 2014. Garner was accused of selling single cigarettes without a tax stamp.
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