Hearing and funeral echo calls for US Congress, White House to ‘stop the pain’ caused by racism
LaTonya Floyd speaks during the funeral for her brother George Floyd on Tuesday at The Fountain of Praise church in Houston. Floyd died while in police custody on May 25 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and his death sparked widespread protests. (GODOFREDO A. VASQUEZ / AP)
The White House and US Congress are expected to act on police reform as the global uproar continues over African American man George Floyd’s death in police custody.
Floyd’s brother urged lawmakers in a congressional hearing on June 10 to “stop the pain”, as Democrats and Republicans offered different remedies for the problem-ridden US police system. “I’m here today to ask you to make it stop. Stop the pain. Stop us from being tired,” Philonise Floyd, brother of George Floyd, said at the congressional hearing.
In his emotional testimony at the House Judiciary Committee’s hearing titled “Policing Practices and Law Enforcement Accountability”, the younger Floyd urged the lawmakers to honor those from around the world calling for change in the wake of his brother’s death.
“Honor them, honor George and make the necessary changes that make law enforcement the solution and not the problem.
“If his death ends up changing the world for the better, and I think it will, then he died as he lived. It is on you to make sure his death isn’t in vain,” Philonise Floyd said.
The hearing came one day after George Floyd was laid to rest, and two days after congressional Democrats introduced a piece of legislation seeking sweeping reforms to policing policies, which will make it easier to prosecute police misconduct cases and prevent excessive use of force by law enforcement.
Democratic congresswoman Karen Bass, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus that led the drafting of the Justice in Policing Act of 2020, said in her opening statement that she hopes the bill will pass both chambers of Congress and become law, so that “we never, ever, ever see again what we saw a few weeks ago”.
Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died on May 25 after Derek Chauvin, then a Minneapolis police officer, pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes with two other colleagues and another on standby. The incident has sparked protests worldwide over the past two weeks.
Elected officials, celebrities, community members and families of other victims who died at the hands of police joined George Floyd’s family members — who all wore white — at his third and final funeral service, which was held at The Fountain of Praise church in Houston on June 9.
The church was near capacity with about 2,500 people in attendance.
US Congressman Al Green, who represents southwestern Houston, said that Floyd’s crime was that he was born black. Green said he plans to present the family with a resolution that will become part of the Congressional Record.
Green also called for the federal government to create a “Department of Reconciliation”.
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, who represents central Houston, said Floyd’s purpose and his assignment are to bring justice to the US.
Referring to the number of minutes and seconds policeman Chauvin pressed down on Floyd’s neck, she said: “There will be no more 8:46 of injustice and the mistreatment of African American men at the hands of the laws of this nation or anyone else. There will be no more 8:46 that you will be in pain without getting justice.”
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner proclaimed that June 9 will be designated George Perry Floyd Day in the city of Houston.
Turner said the city’s attorney was drafting an executive order that will ban police tactics like the ones that killed Floyd and others.
Brooke Williams, the niece of George Floyd, demanded justice for her uncle. “No justice, no peace,” she said. “No more hate crimes, please. Someone said ‘Make America Great Again,’ but when has America ever been great?”
The Reverend Al Sharpton, a civil rights activist and MSNBC talk-show host, delivered a eulogy emphasizing Floyd’s legacy and the action his death has sparked across the globe.
Ivy McGregor of The Fountain of Praise announced at the funeral that the president of Ghana would be permanently adding Floyd’s name to a wall at the Diaspora African Forum in the W.E.B. Du Bois Center in Accra.
After the funeral, Floyd’s body was escorted by officers of the Houston Police Department and taken to Houston Memorial Gardens in Pearland. Floyd was buried next to his mother, to whom he called out with his last dying words.
Xinhua contributed to the report.
