Jay-Z, Minnesota Governor Reveal They Had a “Human Conversation” About George Floyd Death

Jay-Z praised Minnesota Governor Tim Walz following the announcement on Sunday that the state’s attorney general would take the lead on any charges brought against the officers involved in the death of George Floyd.

In a statement posted on the rapper’s criminal justice reform advocacy group REFORM Alliance’s Twitter page, Jay-Z wrote that he had an “earnest conversation” with Walz and thanked him “for doing what’s right and calling in the Attorney General Keith Ellison to take over the George Floyd case.”

Ellison, whom Walz asked to take the lead in any prosecutions related to Floyd’s death, will work with Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman. Fired Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was charged on Friday with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

The rapper wrote that he had the “human conversation” as “a dad and a black man in pain.”

“Yes, I am human, a father and a Black man in pain and I am not the only one,” he wrote in the post. “Now I, along with an entire country in pain, call upon AG Ellison to do the right thing and prosecute all those responsible for the murder of George Floyd to the fullest extent of the law.”

He continued, “I am more determined to fight for justice than any fight my would-be oppressors may have.”

“I prevail on every politician, prosecutor and officer in the country to have the courage to do what is right,” the rapper concluded. “Have the courage to look at us as humans, dads, brothers, sisters and mothers in pain and look at yourselves.”

#JusticeForGeorgeFloyd @GovTimWalz pic.twitter.com/0606dwrbzt

— REFORM Alliance (@REFORM) June 1, 2020

Walz also spoke about his conversation with Jay-Z during a press conference on Sunday.

“I received a call last night — to understand how big this was — from Jay-Z. Not [as an] international performer but [as a] dad stressing to me that justice needs to be served,” he said.

Walz continued, “It was so incredibly human. … It was a dad, and I think quite honestly a black man whose visceral pain of this that he knew. His words summarized that justice needs to be served here.”

Gov. Tim Walz gets call from Jay-Z. “Not international performer, but dad,” said Walz. He stressed to Walz the need for justice. pic.twitter.com/8fjGSm0IRa

— Timothy Blotz (@TimBlotzFOX9) May 31, 2020