Did President Joe Biden beg for the forgiveness of George Floyd's son by kneeling in front of him? No, that's not true: Biden, while campaigning in Michigan, knelt in front of a boy who is not Floyd's son.
The claim, which has previously appeared as a tweet suggesting that the child in the picture was Floyd's daughter, reappeared as a Facebook post (archived here) by Facebook media page NaijaXtreme on April 11, 2021. The caption states:
U.S. President Joe Biden kneels down to beg George Floyd's son for forgiveness. The same kneeling position that killed Floyd. Minneapolis City Government awards Floyd's family $27 million, as alleged killers go on trial. Highest humility, leading by example
#BlackLivesMatters💪
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Mon Apr 12 14:35:32 2021 UTC)
The caption also linked to an identical tweet by @naijaxtreme.
According to Getty Images, the picture of Biden and the boy, whose name is C.J. Brown, was taken on September 9, 2020, during one of Biden's campaign stops in Detroit. The picture's caption states:
Wearing a face mask to reduce the risk posed by the coronavirus, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden kneels to chat with C.J. Brown while shopping at Three Thirteen, an apparel store on the city's Avenue of Fashion, September 09, 2020, in Detroit, Michigan. Biden is campaigning in Michigan, which President Donald Trump won in 2016 by less than 11,000 votes, the narrowest margin of victory in state's presidential election history. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Floyd was killed on May 25, 2020, after a Minneapolis, Minnesota, police officer pressed a knee into on his neck for more than nine minutes. According to a tweet from Al Sharpton, Biden met with Roger Floyd, Floyd's uncle, on June 8, 2020, ahead of Floyd's funeral in Houston, Texas. Attorney L. Chris Stewart posted a picture from the same day that featured Biden and Floyd's now-6-year-old daughter, Gianna Floyd.
