George Floyd's Girlfriend Was Daunte Wright's Teacher

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.