MAN WHO IGNITED GLOBAL WAR AGAINST RACISM LAID TO REST
‘HIS CRIME WAS THAT HE WAS BORN BLACK. THAT WAS HIS ONLY CRIME’
George Floyd, 46, the African American whose death in custody sparked worldwide protests, was laid to rest next to his mother in Pearland, Houston. He cried out for his mother as a white police officer pressed a knee on his neck on May 25 |
Brooke Williams, niece of George Floyd, speaks with the rest of the family, during the funeral in Houston yesterday. Floyd’s death unleashed a surge of protests across the US cities against racism and the systematic mistreatment of black people.
Hundreds of mourners packed a Houston church yesterday for the funeral of George Floyd, capping six days of mourning for the black man whose death has led to a global reckoning over police brutality and racial injustice.
“George Floyd was not expendable. This is why we’re here,’’ Democratic Representative Al Green of Houston told the crowd at the Fountain of Praise church. “His crime was that he was born black. That was his only crime. George Floyd deserved the dignity and respect that we accord all people just because they are children of a common God.’’
Following the funeral, Floyd’s body was to be taken by horsedrawn carriage to a cemetery in suburban Pearland, where he was laid to rest next to his mother.
The 46-year-old father, athlete and avid sports fan known as Big Floyd cried out for his mother and pleaded he couldn’t breathe as a white Minneapolis police officer pressed a knee on his neck May 25. Dozens of Floyd’s family members, most dressed in white, were led into the sanctuary by the Reverend Al Sharpton, the civil rights activist.
His death unleashed a surge of protests across the US cities against racism and the systematic mistreatment of black people.
The case also thrust President Donald Trump into a political crisis.
Murder charge
The demonstrations have reinvigorated the Black Lives Matter movement and raised demands for racial justice and police reforms to the top of the political agenda ahead of the November 3 presidential election.
Derek Chauvin, 44, the policeman who knelt on Floyd’s neck and is charged with second-degree murder, made his first court appearance in Minneapolis by video link on Monday. A judge ordered his bail raised from $1 million to $1.25 million.
Nine minutes of silence
US financial market operators, including the New York Stock Exchange, held a moment of silence yesterday in honor of Floyd. The floor of the NYSE, which is owned by Intercontinental Exchange Inc, went silent for 8 minutes and 46 seconds at noon, coinciding with the beginning of Floyd’s funeral in Houston and the amount of time the officer’s knee was on Floyd’s neck.