George Floyd's Girlfriend Was Daunte Wright's Teacher
The Claim
George Floyd’s former girlfriend once taught Daunte Wright in high school.
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Emerging story
On Sunday April 11, 20-year-old Daunte Wright was shot and killed by police during a traffic stop in what officials are calling a negligent discharge. The shooting sparked immediate protests and demonstrations against race-related police violence. It also evoked comparisons to the killing of George Floyd, due to the circumstances of the two men's deaths, and that they occurred only twelve miles apart. Yesterday, claims began to spread on social media of another connection between them: George Floyd’s former girlfriend had once taught Daunte Wright in high school.
Misbar’s Analysis
Our investigation confirmed that there was a connection between Wright and Floyd’s former girlfriend, Courteney Ross. Posts sharing this claim were responding to statements from a news conference held by Wright’s family on April 13. His aunt, Naisha Wright, wore a t-shirt depicting Floyd, and during an emotional speech, she added, "The craziest thing is to find out today that my family has connections to this man, to this family. His girlfriend was a teacher for my nephew.”
Ross further clarified Ms. Wright’s statement to the Washington Post. She said that Mr. Wright was a student at Edison High School in Minneapolis while she worked there as a dean. She described him as “a silly boy, as goofy as can be, ” who “needed a lot of love.” Other reports added that he’d been voted class clown as a freshman.
The connection highlighted the impact that events such as this have not only on individuals and families, but on a community. It also evoked other historical connections between victims of racialized violence, notably that the mother of Black Panther leader Fred Hampton had once babysat for Emmett Till. Fred Hampton, who is currently the subject of the film, “Judas and the Black Messiah,” was killed during a police raid in 1969. Emmett Till was a 14-year-old boy who was murdered in 1955 by vigilantes for allegedly flirting with a white woman, an accusation that was only recently found to be false.
