George Floyd, black man whose death under the knee of a white police officer sparked worldwide protests against racial injustice, was remembered at his funeral Wednesday as “an ordinary brother” turned into fate by “fate” of a movement “.
During a four-hour service broadcast live on all major American television channels from a church in Floyd’s childhood home in Houston, family members, clergy and politicians urged Americans to transform sorrow and indignation at his death into a moment of gratitude for the nation.
The funeral followed two weeks of protests triggered by a graphic video clip of Floyd, 46, handcuffed and lying face down on a Minneapolis street while an officer kneels in the back of the neck for nearly nine minutes. The video shows Floyd breathless as he shouts “Mum” and moans “Please, I can’t breathe” before being silent and motionless.
Officer Derek Chauvin, 44, has since been charged with second degree murder and three other police officers for assisting and encouraging the death of Floyd on May 25. All were removed from office the day after the incident.
Floyd’s dying words have become a rallying cry for tens of thousands of protesters around the world who have since taken to the streets without being intimidated by the coronavirus pandemic, demanding justice for Floyd and ending the abuse of minorities by the American police.
“I can breathe. And as long as I breathe, justice will be served,” said Floyd Brooklyn Williams’ niece in a funeral eulogy that drew applause from the mourners inside the Fountain of Praise Church in Houston. “It is not just murder but a hate crime.”
“BIG FLOYD”
Williams was one of several relatives and friends, mostly dressed in white, who addressed the service, remembering Floyd as a loving, larger-than-life personality. The memorial was punctuated with gospel music and a video montage of shared memories of the man affectionately nicknamed “Big Floyd”.
Her younger brother, Terrence Floyd, has spoken of an awakening in the middle of the night for the past few days, traumatized by the memory of seeing his older brother call his mother while he was dying.
Her older brother Philonise, sobbing in pain, told the mourners: “George was my personal superman.”
Speaking to deliver the great eulogy, Reverend Al Sharpton, a prominent civil rights activist and television commentator, called Floyd “an ordinary brother” who left a legacy of greatness despite shortcomings that prevented him from achieve whatever he aspired to. to become.
“God took the rejected stone and made it the cornerstone of a movement that will change the world,” said Sharpton.
He added that the Floyd family would lead a march on Washington organized on August 28 to mark the 57th anniversary of the 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial by civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., assassinated in 1968.
“HOME CELEBRATION”
Some 2,500 people attended the funeral, which followed the memorial services last week in Minneapolis, where Floyd took up residence after leaving Houston, and Raeford, the city of North Carolina where he was born. More than 6,000 people marched Tuesday in front of Floyd’s open coffin as he lay inside the church.
“It’s a family celebration,” said Reverend Mia Wright, co-pastor of the church. The banners featured pop art illustrations of Floyd wearing a baseball cap with a halo over it.
Two columns of Houston uniformed police officers saluted the golden coffin as it was transported from the hearse into the church before service. A horse-drawn carriage then carried the coffin on its last mile to the Pearland, Texas cemetery, where Floyd was buried in a private ceremony next to the grave.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, presumed Democratic candidate for the Nov. 3 presidential election, addressed the funeral via video recording, regretting that “too many black Americans wake up knowing they could lose life by living only their life. “
“We must not turn away. We cannot leave this moment thinking that we can turn away from racism again,” he said.
Two voter registration tables have been set up outside the church.
FAMILIES DURING
Among those present were relatives of several other black men killed by white police or white civilians.
The mother of Eric Garner, the New York man who died in a police strangulation in 2014, was there, as well as the family of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery, a Georgia man who was shot dead in February while ‘he was jogging. Three white men have been charged with his death.
But it was the scary video rendering of Floyd’s death that sparked a rage like no other murder of its kind in recent memory, energizing the Black Lives Matter movement and pushing demands for racial justice to the top of the game. political agenda in the United States and around the world.
The fallout from Floyd’s death and the response to a wave of arson and looting that accompanied some of the otherwise mostly peaceful protests also plunged President Donald Trump into one of the biggest crises in his term.
Republican Trump has repeatedly threatened to order the military to take to the streets to quell protests, focusing on restoring order while saying little about American racial injuries to the origin of the upheavals.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
