A tear rolls down Mallory Jackson’s face as he poses for a portrait in Houston, Texas on June 7, 2020. – Mallory Jackson first met George Floyd in a high school English class in Houston’s Third Ward. He remembers him as great at sports, funny and kind. Jackson has not eaten or slept much since watching images of his old friend dying under a policeman’s knee.
Floyd, whose death at the hands of police in Minneapolis on May 25 has sparked protests nationwide and beyond, grew up in the Texan city, where he was known in his mostly black neighborhood for his athletic prowess and for looking out for younger kids. Standing in the yard of Jack Yates High School, where they studied together, he remembered Floyd as a “jokester” with a towering physical presence, which he said he used to protect the younger boys rather than intimidate them.“He loved Third Ward. And he wanted better for Third Ward,” he said. “He even left here because he wanted a better opportunity so he can show others that, hey, I can leave and make it you know, you can do it too. You don’t have to just sit in one spot.
“I admired his style of play, you know, to be that tall and able to be that agile and definitely a great athlete,” he said of his childhood friend, who was two years older than him and encouraged in him the confidence he needed to play better.