Hundreds line up for George Floyd’s memorial in Houston
HOUSTON
(AP) — Hundreds of mourners lined up outside a church in George Floyd’s
native Houston for a final public viewing Monday as his death two weeks
ago at the hands of police continued spurring protesters, leaders and
cities around the world into action over demands to address racial
injustice and police brutality.
As the doors opened at The
Fountain of Praise church in Houston, where Floyd spent most of his
life, Floyd was lying in an open gold-colored casket, dressed in a brown
suit. His body was escorted to what organizers say will be a six-hour
public viewing that was expected to draw thousands of mourners.
Mourners,
many wearing masks and T-shirts with the words “I Can’t Breathe,” stood
6 feet apart as they paused briefly to view the casket. Some made the
sign of the cross as they passed by. On the stage behind the casket were
two identical murals of Floyd wearing a black cap that read “Houston”
and angel wings drawn behind him.
“With this happening to him,
it’s going to make a difference in the world,” said Pam Robinson, who
grew up with Floyd in Houston and handed out bottled water to mourners
waiting outside in the searing Texas heat. One man in the line, which
had no shade, collapsed as temperatures spiked above 90 degrees and was
taken by stretcher to a cooling station set up in front of the church.
The
mourners came from near and far: Comill Adams said she drove more than
seven hours from Oklahoma City with her family, including two children
ages 8 and 10. They wore matching black T-shirts with “I Can’t Breathe”
on the back — shirts she made up specifically or the memorial.
“We
had been watching the protests on TV. We’ve been at home feeling
outraged. At times it brought us to tears,” Adams said. “The fact this
one is causing change, we had to come be a part of.”
Floyd died
May 25 after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into
his neck for several minutes even after he stopped responding. His death
has inspired international protests and drawn new attention to the
treatment of African Americans by police and the U.S. criminal justice
system.
Even as the service began, the impact of his death
continued to resonate both at home and abroad. In Paris, France’s top
security official said police will no longer conduct choke holds that
have been blamed for multiple cases of asphyxiation and have come under
renewed criticism after Floyd’s death. And in Washington, Democrats in
Congress proposed a sweeping overhaul of police oversight and
procedures, a potentially far-reaching legislative response to the mass
protests denouncing the deaths of black Americans at the hands of law
enforcement.
Before Floyd’s casket arrived, workers outside the
church assembled a large floral arrangement with white roses on one side
in the shape of a heart and with the initials “BLM,” for Black Lives
Matter, created from blue roses and placed on top of the heart. The
other side of the floral arrangement was made up of red roses and
appeared to be in the shape of a raised fist.
Republican Texas
Gov. Greg Abbott was among the first to view the casket and planned to
meet privately with the family later. He wore a striped gold and crimson
tie, the colors of Floyd’s Houston high school.
“George Floyd is
going to change the arc of the future of the United States. George Floyd
has not died in vain. His life will be a living legacy about the way
that America and Texas responds to this tragedy,” Abbott said.
A
majority of the Minneapolis City Council has vowed to dismantle the
city’s 800-member police agency. On Monday, Derek Chauvin — the officer
filmed pressing his knee on Floyd’s neck and one of four to be fired
from the department in the aftermath of Floyd’s death — is scheduled to
make his first court appearance since the charge against him was
upgraded to second-degree murder.
In Washington House and Senate
Democrats held a moment of silence at the Capitol’s Emancipation Hall
before proposing legislative changes in policing oversight, reading the
names of George Floyd and others killed during police interactions. They
knelt for 8 minutes and 46 seconds — now a symbol of police brutality
and violence — the length of time prosecutors say Floyd was pinned under
a white police officer’s knee before he died.
The Justice in
Policing Act would limit legal protections for police, create a national
database of excessive-force incidents and ban police choke holds, among
other changes, according to an early draft. It is the most ambitious
change to law enforcement sought by Congress in years.
Floyd’s funeral will be Tuesday, followed by burial at the Houston Memorial Gardens cemetery in suburban Pearland, where he will be laid to rest next to his mother, Larcenia Floyd.
Former Vice President Joe
Biden planned to travel to Houston to meet with Floyd’s family and will
provide a video message for Floyd’s funeral service. Previous memorials
have taken place in Minneapolis and Raeford, North Carolina, near where
Floyd was born.
Cities imposed curfews as several protests last
week were marred by spasms of arson, assaults and smash-and-grab raids
on businesses. More than 10,000 people have been arrested around the
country since protests began, according to reports tracked by The
Associated Press. Videos have surfaced of officers in riot gear using
tear gas or physical force against even peaceful demonstrators.
But
U.S. protests in recent days have been overwhelmingly peaceful — and
over the weekend, several police departments appeared to retreat from
aggressive tactics.
Several cities have also lifted curfews,
including Chicago and New York City, where the governor urged protesters
to get tested for the coronavirus and to proceed with caution until
they had. Leaders around the country have expressed concern that
demonstrations could lead to an increase in coronavirus cases.
Floyd
was raised in Houston’s Third Ward and was a well-known former high
school football player who rapped with local legend DJ Screw. He moved
to Minneapolis several years ago to seek work and a fresh start. His
face now appears on a mural in his old neighborhood, and his name was
chanted by tens of thousands last week at a protest and march in
downtown Houston.