Thousands mourn Floyd in Houston
HOUSTON — The last chance for the public to say goodbye to George Floyd drew thousands of mourners Monday to a church in Houston, where he grew up, as his death two weeks ago continues to stoke protests in America and beyond over racial injustice.
Reflecting the weight of the moment, the service drew the families of black victims in other high-profile killings whose names have become seared in America’s conversation over race — among them Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Ahmaud Arbery, Trayvon Martin and Antwon Rose II.
“It just hurts,” said Philonise Floyd, George Floyd’s brother, sobbing as he ticked off some of their names outside The Fountain of Praise church. “We will get justice. We will get it. We will not let this door close.”
Under a blazing Texas sun, mourners wearing Tshirts with Floyd’s picture or the words “I Can’t Breathe” — the phrase he said repeatedly while pinned down by a white Minneapolis police officer — waited for hours to pay their respects as Floyd’s body, dressed in a brown suit, lay in an open gold-colored casket. Some sang “Lean on Me.”.
Funeral home spokeswoman La’Torria Lemon said at least 6,000 attended the service.
Some knew Floyd in the nearby housing projects where he grew up. Others traveled hours or drove in from other states. Those who couldn’t make it whipped up their own tributes: In Los Angeles, a funeral-style procession of cars inched through downtown as the viewing began in Houston; in Tennessee, residents of Memphis held a moment of silence.
Bracy Burnett approached Floyd’s casket wearing a homemade denim face mask scrawled with “8:46” — the length of time prosecutors say Floyd, who was black, was pinned to the ground under a white officer’s knee before he died.
“All black people are not criminals. All white people are not racists. All cops are not bad. And ignorance comes in all colors. That’s what I thought about when I viewed the body,” Mr. Burnett, 66, said.
Floyd’s death on May 25 has inspired international protests and drawn new attention to the treatment of black Americans in the U.S. by police and the criminal justice system.
Hours into the viewing, a judge in Minneapolis put bail at $1.25 million — $1 million under certain conditions — for Derek Chauvin, the fired police officer charged with second-degree murder in Floyd’s death. Mr. Chauvin, 44, said almost nothing during the 11-minute hearing while appearing on closedcircuit television from a maximum-security prison.
Two weeks after Floyd’s death, the impact continued to resonate at home and abroad.
In Paris, France’s top security official said police would no longer permit chokeholds that have been blamed for multiple cases of asphyxiation and have come under renewed criticism after Floyd’s death.
In Portland, Ore., the city’s police chief resigned Monday, just six months into her job, amid criticism of her department’s handling of protests in that state’s largest city. An African American lieutenant on the force replaced her. The shakeup came as police have been sharply criticized for using what has been called inappropriate force against some protesters as huge demonstrations continue in Portland.
“With this happening to him, it’s going to make a difference in the world,” said Pam Robinson, who grew up with Floyd and handed out bottled water to mourners waiting outside the church in Houston.