USA TODAY International Edition
Memorial brings Americans together in mourning, outrage
In Atlanta, Bernice King, daughter of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., addressed 1,000 people, many dressed in their Sunday finest, urging them not to stop “until there is never again the breath taken out of the life of any black or brown person in this nation and around the world.”
In Fall River, Massachusetts, protesters lay on their stomachs in the grass, hands together behind their backs, replicating the position in which George Floyd was held before he died. Members of the Fall River Police Department joined protesters in taking a knee.
In Brooklyn, Mayor Bill de Blasio and his wife, Chirlane McCray, along with city comptroller Letitia James, joined Floyd’s brother, Terrance Floyd, at a memorial that drew thousands. McCray and James drew loud responses by calling out “Say his name”
and waiting for response: “George
Floyd.”
And in Washington, D. C., a normally bustling plaza packed with protesters went silent for eight minutes and 46 seconds, the amount of time Floyd spent under the knee of Officer Derek Chauvin, who has been charged with second- degree murder. On Capitol Hill, Senate Democrats took the same pause while on bended knee.
Across the nation Thursday, Americans stopped to commemorate the life and mourn the death of Floyd, 46, at the hands of Minneapolis police, with Floyd’s dying words, “I can’t breathe,” giving life to a searing moment in the nation’s fraught struggle for human rights.
Artists have painted murals of his image on city streets. Protesters across the world have yelled his name and demanded justice while facing off against police officers dressed in riot gear.
The overwhelming chorus of outrage, fueled by what some say is an at times overly aggressive response by law enforcement, have formed a reality few Americans have witnessed before.
“We are at a tipping point, much as during the ’ 60s when Dr. Martin Luther King said we are at a crossroads,” said Aaron Bryant, curator at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D. C. “This moment is about the nation living up to its promise and the guarantees we all are given under the Constitution.”
On Thursday, the focus returned to the life Floyd led as he was memorialized by family and friends at Minneapolis’ North Central University, an event included a “national eulogy” by the Rev. Al Sharpton and a “national criminal justice system address” by Floyd family attorney Ben Crump.
The tributes will continue Saturday in Raeford, North Carolina, where Floyd was born and where Floyd’s sister Bridgette lives. And on Monday and Tuesday, funeral services will take place in Houston, where Floyd lived before he left for better employment options in Minneapolis. There will be both a public and private viewing, and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden has announced he will attend.
Much as the protests in the wake of Floyd’s death have erupted in cities across the country, so, too, are his memorials echoing.
Hundreds of people lay on their stomachs across Second Avenue in Pittsburgh, some silent, some chanting “Say his name,” and “This is what democracy looks like.”
In Las Vegas’ Kianga Isoke Palacio Park, roughly 150 people were expected at a Black Lives Matter: Solidarity event.
In Chicago, thousands of people have expressed interest in Facebook events for at least two community protests planned for Thursday night – on the city’s North and South Sides – to demand police accountability and justice for Floyd.
In Dudley, Massachusetts, Abigail Cooper, 15, was planning a protest and meeting with Webster Police Chief Michael Shaw to map out an event Saturday to recognize Floyd’s death. She said she hopes Floyd’s memorial can bring some degree of closure.
“This is really the tip of the iceberg because this has happened so many times, and it was recorded and got to the media really fast,” said Cooper, who is black and resides in a predominantly white community of close to 12,000 people.
In New Hampshire, Lovey Roundtree Oliff, the first African American woman elected to Exeter’s Select Board, called the national memorial “a new beginning of sorts.” She said she couldn’t help but think of the public outrage at San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick protesting police brutality by taking a knee during the national anthem in 2016 and how critics portrayed his message as anti- American.
“A lot of the concerns and issues that people were feeling before, that in my opinion were being ignored, are now being heard,” Roundtree Oliff said. “If the nation as a whole had been listening more clearly in 2016, perhaps we wouldn’t be in the position we’re in today.”
While Floyd may have become a symbol in his death, he was remembered by those who knew him as a “gentle giant,” said his friend Wallace White.
“He didn’t need to die like that. All the footage showed the man was not resisting him.
“He was loved by everyone around here. He was a real quiet guy, liked to have fun,” White told USA TODAY.
As protests erupted after his death, details about Floyd’s life emerged: A solid basketball player at 6- foot- 4. A doting father to a young girl. A wellliked fixture as a security guard at the Conga Latin Bistro.
Jovanni Thunstrom, Floyd’s employer, said his killing was “just plain murder.”
“My employee George Floyd was murdered by a Police officer that had no compassion, used his position to commit a murder of someone that was begging for his life,” wrote Thunstrom, owner of the Conga Latin Bistro, in a Facebook post. “I will like to keep on writing, but my vision is blurry, from the tears coming out of my eyes. I am sorry, I usually don’t cry.”
Protesters have been moved by other recent examples of injustice, including the filmed killing of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, the shooting of paramedic Breonna Taylor by Kentucky police officers, and a viral video from Central Park in New York City showing a white woman threatening an African American man with police action after he asked her to leash her dog as required by law so he could bird- watch in peace.
Janai Nelson, associate director and counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, said protesters want to usher in societal changes in honor of Floyd.
“This is a multicultural movement that didn’t start as one, a moment that originated with the birth of Black Lives Matter in 2014, when that statement was controversial,” said Nelson.
“Now in 2020, you see young white people holding up signs saying that you’d have never seen that a mere five years ago,” she said.
“So in that way it’s hugely different. This death has galvanized a group of allies in a short time.”