Local Cousin of George Floyd speaks at Ventura rally

OXNARD, Calif. - Thousands of people have come together to rally for George Floyd up and down the coast.

On Thursday, about 500 people gathered at the Ventura County Government Center.

One of the speakers was Oxnard resident Quentin Floyd, George Floyd's cousin.

Quentin Floyd gave an emotional speech about his distant cousin George Floyd.

"You want to take 8 minutes and 46 seconds from someone's life and end it for generations to come," Floyd said. "I am mad, I'm sad, I am so transparent right now."

Quentin says Floyd's death has been difficult, but he felt the need to speak out.

"My kids live here. We live in this community and our last name is Floyd. George left to go to the store and didn't come home. That can happen to anyone of us," Floyd said. "I really just care about the community taking care of each other."

Quentin says all four of his kids are different ethnicities so the race issue hits close to home. He says police brutality has to end and shared his experience working in law enforcement.

"I was a cop for over 10 years, I would never do that to anybody. I am a cop, I have a white daughter," Floyd said. "One thing I want to see changed is the manner in which police officers are enforcing the law. I get it, I have been there and done that, but all it takes is a little bit of compassion and a little bit of humanism and things can be slightly different and it could make a huge impact."

Community members took a knee, prayed, and even shed tears hoping for a change.

"No more. I will not take it. So I will be the voice for the Floyd family, and you got to be the voice of your family because it is one family under god and nothing else matters."

Floyd ended his speech with a message of hope for change.

"Today we celebrate that all god's children -- black, white, Hispanic, Asian -- every person of color has a right to breathe."