Newly uncovered recordings have shed light on the father of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is currently prosecuting Donald Trump.
In these recordings, obtained by the New York Post, John C. Floyd III, Fani Willis’s father described the police in his hometown of Los Angeles during the 1960s as an “occupying army” that was “nothing but trouble.” He also used the term “Texas cracker” to refer to a prominent white politician of that era.
Floyd’s close relationship with his daughter Fani Willis, who is pursuing a complex anti-racketeering case against former President Donald Trump and 18 others, including Rudy Giuliani and Mark Meadows, has come to light. This case alleges a plot to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia. Trump has entered a not guilty plea in response to these charges.
Fani Willis acknowledged her strong bond with her father, revealing that she speaks with him up to ten times a day and that his values continue to influence her. However, she did not directly address her father’s past involvement with the Black Panthers.
Floyd’s involvement in founding the Black Panther Political Party in 1967 was accompanied by the declaration that Malcolm X would be their “patron saint” and their commitment to black nationalism. He also distanced himself from the Democratic Party and advocated for political power within the black community.
Floyd claimed to have met two significant figures in his life: Malcolm X, who was assassinated in 1965, and Martin Luther King, who was assassinated in 1968. He raised questions about conspiracy theories surrounding Malcolm X’s assassination, citing concerns about the FBI and the circumstances of the murder.
Floyd’s association with Huey P. Newton, leader of the Black Panther Party, was notable. Newton’s group was more militant than Floyd’s Black Panther Political Party, but the two factions were aligned.
Floyd’s memories included meeting Malcolm X at a young age and being impressed by his televised interviews. He questioned whether there was a conspiracy behind Malcolm X’s assassination, given the involvement of J. Edgar Hoover and the circumstances surrounding it.
The transcript also mentions Floyd’s connection with civil rights activist Angela Davis in the late 1960s. Davis was a member of the Communist Party USA and faced legal troubles related to a courthouse seizure in Marin County, California. Despite a massive campaign for her release, she was eventually acquitted in 1972 and became a prominent advocate for prison reform. Despite mentions of Floyd in Angela Davis’s memoir, there is no confirmation of their romantic relationship.
Fani Willis, born in 1971 in Inglewood, moved to Washington with her father when she was in the first grade. Her father transitioned to a career as a criminal defense attorney and distanced himself from the Black Panther movement.
Willis has often referred to her upbringing by a “single dad,” and details about her mother remain unclear. John C. Floyd III remarried in 1989 but lost his second wife in 2012 due to complications from a brain tumor.
In an interview with South Atlanta magazine, Willis shared that her father’s work as an attorney influenced her desire to follow in his footsteps. Her radical activism thus shapes a court case that will play an influential role in deciding the 2024 presidential election.
IMO, it matters less what our parents believed – we have the choice to support it or reject it once we’re out in the world as grown-ups. My mother was Jewish and my father was the biggest bigot (and womanizer) on the block of Polish families during WWII and after. What he espoused inside the house, I felt and lived from our ‘neighbors’ outside. Italians had their church, Poles had theirs, and a third group had their own as well. All the church bells sounded the same on Sundays but all were as hateful to and isolated from each other daily. Experiencing this, my version of being human was to see each as an individual making choices and chose to associate with those with intelligence and capable of logic. Blanket ignorance and hatred verboten!