George Floyd Would Have Turned 50 Today. His Sister Is Throwing a Party in His Honor: 'Going to Cry All Day'

“I thought he would be alive to see it,” LaTonya Floyd tells PEOPLE. “I thought he’d live to be 100”

George Floyd would have turned 50 today. In the days leading up to his Oct. 14 birthday, his older sister told PEOPLE she couldn't stop thinking about him.

“He should've been here,” LaTonya Floyd, 55, tells PEOPLE. “He was just a soul full of joy.”

LaTonya remembers joking with him about his receding hairline and gray hairs when he turned 46.

“I remember me telling him, 'Boy, you getting on up there,' she says. “I remember him saying, 'I'm still in my 40s. I'm still a kid.' And he was like, 'I can still kick it.'”

“I thought he would be alive to see it,” she says. “I thought he’d live to be 100.”

Floyd was 46 when he was killed on May 25, 2020, while being detained by a group of  Minneapolis, Minn. police officers for allegedly using a counterfeit $20 bill at a local convenience store. Derek Chauvin, one of the White cops who arrived on the scene, was captured in horrifying footage that went viral on social media, firmly pressing his knee on the back of Floyd’s neck while he gasped for air for more than 9 minutes.

"I can't breathe,” and “They’re going to kill me,” were among the unarmed Black man’s last words before he lost consciousness and died at a local hospital.

Autopsies conducted by authorities and Floyd’s family determined he died of asphyxiation due to neck and back compression from being subdued by more than one officer and his death was ruled a homicide.

His killing sparked a wave of protests for racial justice around the world.

LaTonya tells PEOPLE she hopes to hold a party in his memory, and serve his favorite white cake with chocolate frosting.

“He would've thrown a block party. Everybody would come,” she says. “I miss him so much. I love him more, and since he is not here to do it, I'm going to do it for him.”

Related: George Floyd's Sister Says Brother Was 'Best Friend,' Recalls Favorite Song They'd Sing Together

In April 2021, Chauvin, 45, was convicted of second and third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in Floyd’s killing, and in June of that year was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison, PEOPLE previously reported. He was fired a day after the murder.

Related: Derek Chauvin Sentenced to 22.5 Years in Prison for Murder of George Floyd

The other three now-former officers on the scene with Chauvin — J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao — were all later convicted of violating Floyd’s civil rights by showing deliberate indifference to his medical needs and failing to provide aid, PEOPLE previously reported.

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The Floyd family was awarded $27 million in March 2021 as part of the settlement of a civil suit filed against the city of Minneapolis and the four police officers.

Related: George Floyd Family Settles $27 Million Civil Suit with City of Minneapolis

As her brother’s birthday approached, LaTonya said she has been feeling tired. She thinks back to how she held him as a baby, and hugged him as a teen as they sang, “Keep on Loving You” to each other.

“I’m missing him,” she says. “I love him. I just can't help it, I'm going to cry all day. Yeah, I'm going to cry all day. I know it, I know it.”

To help combat systemic racism, consider learning from or donating to these organizations:

• Campaign Zero works to end police brutality in America through research-proven strategies.

• ColorofChange.org works to make the government more responsive to racial disparities.

• National Cares Mentoring Movement provides social and academic support to help Black youth succeed in college and beyond.
  

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