On June 10, 2020 — one day after the funeral of George Floyd, a Black man who died in the custody of Minneapolis police and sparked a national reckoning over racism and police brutality — Floyd's younger brother, Philonise Floyd, testified before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee. In the roughly five-minute speech, he described his sibling's death as one in a series of senseless killings of Black men by American cops and asked the committee to "stop the pain" for families like his.
"People of all backgrounds, genders and races have come together to demand change — honor them, honor George, and make the necessary changes that make law enforcement the solution and not the problem," he testified. "The people marching in the streets are telling you enough is enough."
Hours after the testimony, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is not a member of the committee, tweeted the below-displayed post to publicize his participation in the hearing and to apparently show her followers that she supported him.
The tweet quickly drew criticism online among supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump, veterans, and their families who alleged the tweet and its photos showed Pelosi inappropriately giving a folded American flag in a presentation case to Philonise Floyd; they claimed such a gesture was reserved only for the relatives of members of the U.S. Armed Forces or police officers after they die. "What a slap in the face to service members," one person tweeted.
Peggy Hubbard, who is a retired Navy veteran, former police officer, and Republican candidate in Illinois' 2020 Senate race, added to the criticism with a viral Facebook video in which she made vague references to a group of people who have disrespected the flag (presumably during protests against police brutality in the wake of George Floyd's death) and claimed Democrats had committed an offense by giving Philonise Floyd a folded American flag that is "preserved for veterans." She said:
Nancy Pelosi presented George Floyd's family with the ... same flag that these assholes burned, the same flag that they stood on and peed on, the same flag that they wiped their butts on, she turns around and gives this man, a convicted felon, never served in the military, never did a good thing for our country ... and [Pelosi] turns around and gives his family the American flag. ...
Just obliterated the honor of the men and women that bled and died for that uniform for our country, who died protecting that flag and you go give that asshole a folded flag — as if.
That video and other posts on the matter included references to George Floyd's past arrests and incarcerations as part of what appeared to be an effort to deny him martyrdom and criticize the House speaker and other Democratic leaders' connection to the Floyd family. (Here's a detailed investigation into George Floyd's criminal history and psychologists' explanation for why people often draw attention to the arrest records of Black men who die in police custody.)
