Fists in the air, George Floyd's family members and friends along with a small crowd of activists chanted his name Friday night as they gathered across the street from the spot where was killed in the custody of Minneapolis police officers, remembering a man who would have turned 49 on Friday — and whose death changed a city forever.

In front of a banner of black, blue and silver balloons, Floyd's girlfriend, Courteney Ross, spoke of how he cared immensely for his adopted community and never chose violence. She recalled the time that Floyd, who moved to Minneapolis from the Houston area and worked here as a bouncer, was once in tears after dealing with an unruly customer at the Salvation Army.

"He was so sad because it got to the point that he had to put his hands on someone," Ross said. "He was the loving one."

Floyd died after Chauvin placed his knee on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes in May 2020. Floyd had repeatedly said "I can't breathe."

Floyd's aunt, Angela Harrelson, said he always wanted to help the community, even as he dealt with adversity in his own life.

"Especially after he got out of prison, he wanted to do a lot of work helping the Black and brown youth living in the neighborhood [in Houston]," Harrelson said. "They used to call him 'Big Floyd' but not because he was so tall, which he really was, but because he really connected with the community."

Family members spoke of their pain. But they also continued calls for change that have echoed across the city, country and world in the months and years after Floyd's murder.

"Black and brown people ran through this door. The chain — it was broken. It's like we were running for freedom" Harrelson said. "But this time we ran — we never looked back because we saw the dream that Martin Luther King talked about."

Harrelson said it was important to keep up the public conversation around police and use of excessive force. She said Floyd's family continues to stand with other families who believe their loved ones were killed by law enforcement.

"When George Floyd got killed, it was like a door was cracked and all the rest of our families, all we had to do was push that door open and say no more, no more because they had a chance to save George Floyd's life," said Toshira Garraway, founder of Families Supporting Families Against Police Violence.

Derek Chauvin, convicted of Floyd's murder, was sentenced to 22-1/2-years in state prison. He was sentenced in federal court to 21 years for violating Floyd's civil rights.

Three other former Minneapolis police officers J. Alexander Kueng, Tou Thao and Thomas Lane also faced murder charges.

In a federal trial, Kueng and Thao were sentenced to 3 and 3 1⁄2 years respectively for their part in the murder. The two also rejected plea offers in August that would have allowed them to avoid a state trial and additional prison time from the federal civil rights sentence.

Lane was sentenced to 2 1⁄2 years in a federal trial and will serve that concurrently with a three year sentence he received in a state trial in September.

At 38th and Chicago, the intersection that to many regulars has become known simply as "the square," Ross smiled as she admired a large portrait of Floyd resting against a wall.

"Happy birthday baby," she said, turning her eyes upward.