Hundreds of people filed into a Minneapolis chapel on Thursday to remember George Floyd the man whose death at the hands of the police open the Nationwide plant of anguish protests and demands for change in American policing.
But turns sober and defiant, the morners celebrated Mr Floyd as a friend a father and uncle to those close to him but also as a victim of racial injustice whose killing had drawn a legion of people to the streets.
George Floyd’s story has been the story of black folks the Reverend Al Sharpton said in an eulogy of Mr Floyd who died after a white police officer held him down on the Minneapolis street with a knee to Mr Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes because ever since 401 years ago the reason we could never be who we wanted and dreams of being is; You kept your knee on our neck.
The gathering the first of several memorials for Mister Floyd in different cities in the coming days dream is to Floyd’s family members political leaders civil rights leaders and celebrities men in masks out of concerns for the covid-19 pandemic.
“We were smarter than the underfunded schools you put us in” Mr Sharpton said but you had your knees on our neck we could run corporations and not hustle in the streets, but you had your knees on our neck, we had creative skills we could do whatever anybody else could do but you don’t get your knees off our neck.
“Its time to stand up and say get your knees off our neck” Mr Sharpton went on as applause broke out in the university sanctuary where Mr Floyd’s body rested inside the closed shiny copper casket.
All the while marches were taking place around the country on Thursday as thousands of people in cities far from Minneapolis poured into parks and streets calling for an end to systemic racism in the justice system on the 10th day of protests and demonstrators marched in cities including New York, Nashville, Seattle, Santa Monica, California, and around the country… As more people watched the eulogy of Mr Floyd on television and online.
The country two-hour service serves as a call for activism after more than a week of upheavals prompted by the video of the police officer kneeling on Mr Floyd’s neck as he laid face down and handcuffs on the pavement saying I can’t breathe
in-service punctuated by gospel music miss of Lloyd’s relatives child’s personal stories of the man they knew as Perry and whom people in the neighborhood called big Floyd he had a gifts at making people feel welcome. His brother Illinois Floyd called him a general someone who always had a line of Friends behind him.
Everywhere you go and see people how they cling to him they wanted to be around him he said
being in the house with my brother it was inspiring he added because my mum used to take in our kids and they were judges friends he recalled sharing a bed with his big brother together they played football and ate banana and mayonnaise sandwiches and used an oven to dry their socks
One of his cousins shall we date said the thing I miss most about him is his hugs he was just this big giant.
A moral above the guys of the Frank j sanctuary at North central University depicted Mr Floyd’s face above the words now I can breathe and usher stood watch over the coffin which was surrounded by white sprays of flowers
The death of Mr Floyd 46 on may 25th in front of a corner market called cub foods in Minneapolis has galvanized the nation with protests pouring into the streets in cities and small towns alike as well as across the world
Mr sharpton who denounced violent protests to Luton that have occurred in some places said he was heartened that Mr Floyd’s death captured on cellphone video and shared globally and moved high people to join demonstrations condemning misconduct against black Americans
When I looked this time and so much is where in some cases young fights outnumbers the bucks marching I know that it is a different time and the different season when I looked and I saw people in Germany Martin for George Floyd it’s a different time and the different season he said cities vs the Ecclesiastes and then adding I come to tell you America this is the time of building accountability in the criminal justice system.
mourners had their temperatures taken as the entrance to service a Stark reminder of the pandemic still taking place amid the outcry over Mr Floyd’s death some people sat spaced apart and words to practice social distancing measures.
before the service the Reverend Jesse Jackson Martin Luther King the third senator Amy klobuchar and Tina Smith of Minnesota governor Kim Wilde’s mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis and Marvin Carter of saint Paul and many others milled about quietly greeting each other with nuts and elbow bumps and sometimes hugs celebrities that Kevin Hart Tiffany haddish TI and Ludacris also present
It was not the coronavirus pandemic that killed George Floyd said Benjamin Crump the civil rights lawyer who represents the Floyd’s family it was that other pandemic we’re all too familiar with in America, it was that pandemic of racism and discrimination that killed George Floyd
To loud applause resounded as the Reverend, Scott Fagan President of North Central University announced the creation of the George Floyd memorial scholarship adding that since Mr floyds death people had given $53000 specially for the education of young black people.
I now challenging every University President in the United States of America to establish your own George Floyd memorial scholarship fund he said.
On Saturday Mr Floyd is to be remembered in Raeford NC where some of his family lives and other memorial planned on Monday in Houston where Mr Floyd lived for many years.
The ceremony in Minneapolis was open only to invited guests and family members, but hundreds of people gathered outside the chapel on the cloudy skies, on the streets t-shirts with images of Mr Floyd and the words “I can’t breathe” were on sale.
George Floyd really sparked a movement that was brewing to happen said Natalie Quintero who waited in the crowd outside.
Miss Quintero who is Latina said she wanted to show solidarity with black Americans, in her words “we can feel my blood boil over the injustice it’s historical.”
The service came a day after more serious charges were announced against the police officers who waged his knee into Mr Floyds neck Derek Calvin and after, charges were issued against three other officers who participated in the arrests, all had been fired.
The state of Minnesota has filed a civil rights charge against the Minneapolis police force over Mr Floyd’s death pledging to investigate whether the department has engaged in systemic discriminatory practices.
Mr Floyd had moved to Minneapolis about five years ago after leaving his home in Houston where he had been a staff football and basketball player in high school when he returned to Houston for his mother’s funeral two years ago he told the cousin that Minneapolis had come to feel like home.
The city adopted by Mr Floyd was full of tributes and memorials to him. In recent days the names of all the black men and women killed by police officers across the country have been written in large pink blue yellow and green chalk letters on the streets where Mr Floyd was arrested.
Mr Floyd’s memorial service came to close on Thursday afternoon mourners were asked to pause and stand for 8 minutes and 46 seconds; the amount of time that Mr Floyd pants on the ground with the police officers knee pressing into his neck.
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