Philonise Floyd, George Floyd's brother, looks down at Gianna Floyd, George Floyd's daughter, while standing with members of the Floyd family prior to a meeting to mark the anniversary of the death of George Floyd with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Tuesday at the Capitol in Washington.

WASHINGTON — They mourned together and laughed together in the Oval Office — and spoke of what President Joe Biden called “the hard reality that racism has long torn us apart.”

The first anniversary of George Floyd's death was supposed to be a milestone moment in Washington, a time to mark the passage of a policing law to make criminal justice more just. Instead, Floyd's family met with Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House on Tuesday to commemorate their loss and continue to push for legislation.

“It was a remembrance of what happened to my brother,” Philonise Floyd said of the meeting with Biden, calling the president “a genuine guy.”

Biden told them “he just wants the bill to be meaningful and that it holds George's legacy intact,” said George Floyd's nephew Brandon Williams. Williams said Biden showed “genuine concern” for how the family is doing.

Biden took time during the meeting to play with George Floyd's young daughter Gianna, who enjoyed some ice cream and Cheetos, the president said, after she told him she was hungry.

Later, she stood before the cameras outside the White House and softly called out, “say his name.” Family members chanted in return: “George Floyd.”

A sister, Bridgett Floyd, stayed away, aiming to come to Washington only when there is a bill to be signed into law.

“That's when I will make my way to D.C.,” she said from Minnesota.

She and several other family members joined Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and others marking the anniversary in the city where George Floyd died, and other events took place in New York, Los Angeles and other cities in the U.S. and abroad.

Speaking to reporters at the end of the day, Biden said he had spoken with congressional negotiators and “I'm hopeful that sometime after Memorial Day we'll have an agreement.”

With the proposed George Floyd Justice in Policing Act still pending, his family began the day meeting with legislators and headed back to Capitol Hill later from the White House.

They met Tuesday morning with Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., who ushered the bill through the House. The Floyds met late in the day with Democrat Cory Booker of New Jersey and Republican Tim Scott of South Carolina, the Senate's lead negotiators on the bill.