ACROSS AMERICA — More than two weeks after his death in police custody, George Floyd’s funeral service took place Tuesday at Fountain of Praise Church in Houston amid continuing calls for justice and an end to police brutality and racism.
Tuesday’s memorial service was restricted to 500 people due to social distancing guidelines and was limited to Floyd’s family and friends. The public was able to pay its respects Monday.
The Rev. Al Sharpton delivered an emotional eulogy for Floyd, emphasizing that the outcome for Derek Chauvin, the now-fired Minneapolis police officer, and the other officers who stood by without taking action would be very different if their races were different.
“If four black cops had done to one white what was done to George, they wouldn’t have to teach no lessons,” Sharpton said. “They would send them to jail.”
Sharpton also delivered sharp criticism of President Donald Trump.
“When some kids wrongly start violence that this family doesn’t condone, the president talks about bringing in the military,” Sharpton said. “But he’s not said one word about 8 minutes and 46 seconds of police murder of George Floyd.”
“You’re scheming on how you can spin the story rather than you can achieve justice,” Sharpton said. “To clear out peaceful protesters and then take a Bible and walk in front of a church and use a church as a prop … wickedness in high places.”
Floyd, 46, grew up in Houston’s Third Ward, one of the city’s predominantly black neighborhoods. At 6 feet, 6 inches, Floyd emerged as a star tight end for Jack Yates High School and played in the 1992 state championship game in the Houston Astrodome.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, traveled to Houston Monday to meet with the Floyd family.
“Listening to one another is what will begin to heal America. That’s just what VP Joe Biden did with the family of George Floyd — for more than an hour,” Benjamin Crump, the lawyer working with Floyd’s family, wrote on Twitter after the meeting.
Biden did not attend Tuesday’s service due to concerns about the disruption his presence might create. Still, he recorded a video message for the ceremony.
“Now is the time for racial justice,” Biden said in the video. “That’s the answer we must give to our children when they ask, ‘Why?’ Because when there’s justice for George Floyd, we will truly be on our way to racial justice in America.”
Also during the funeral, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner announced that police in his city will no longer be allowed to use chokeholds on people in their custody.
READ: Thousands Mourn George Floyd In Texas Amid Calls For Reform
Despite a growing national movement to defund police departments, Biden does not support it.
“As his criminal justice proposal made clear months ago, Vice President Biden does not believe that police should be defunded,” Biden spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement Monday afternoon.
“Biden supports the urgent need for reform — including funding for public schools, summer programs, and mental health and substance abuse treatment separate from funding for policing — so that officers can focus on the job of policing,” Bates added.
As protests over Floyd’s death continue into Tuesday, Congress is beginning to debate a sweeping reform package aimed at creating new levels of accountability for police.
The Justice in Policing Act, proposed by House and Senate Democrats, would limit legal protections for police, create a national database of excessive-force incidents and ban police chokeholds, according to a draft obtained by The Associated Press.
“Never again should the world be subjected to witnessing what we saw on the streets in Minneapolis, the slow murder of an individual by a uniformed police officer,” Rep. Karen Bass, the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said on the House floor Monday.
READ: Democrats Unveil Police Reform Overhaul
During a House committee hearing Wednesday, Democrats will hear testimony on police brutality and racial profiling. Philonise Floyd, the brother of George Floyd, will be among those to testify, a committee official told The New York Times.
Also Monday, Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who kneeled on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes, made his first court appearance. He is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree manslaughter and third-degree murder.
Judge Jeannice Reding set Chauvin’s unconditional bail at $1.25 million, or $1 million with conditions. Those conditions include:
Being a law-abiding citizen.Making future appearances in court.Not working in a security or law enforcement capacity.Surrendering firearms or ammunition and any firearm permit.Not leaving Minnesota.Not having contact with George Floyd’s family.
The other three former officers involved in the arrest — Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao — were being held on $750,000 bail.
The National Guard began withdrawing from Washington, D.C., on Monday.
The move is a further indicator that the tensions that have gripped the nation’s capital are starting to ease.
“I have just given an order for our National Guard to start the process of withdrawing from Washington, D.C., now that everything is under perfect control,” Trump tweeted. “They will be going home, but can quickly return, if needed. Far fewer protesters showed up last night than anticipated.”
‘Defund The Police’: 5 Things To Know About What It Means
Calls to reallocate police funding have gotten louder during the sustained protests over the death of George Floyd.
Trump Orders National Guard To Start Withdrawing From D.C.
Voices From The George Floyd Protests: ‘Please Stop Killing Us’
In Washington, D.C., the massive fence erected around Lafayette Park near the White House has become a do-it-yourself gallery of protest art.
Click Here: liverpool mens jersey
Messages, posters and portraits, ranging from loving to enraged, almost blot out the view of the White House across the way, according to The Associated Press.
One block away at the corner of 16th and I streets — a constant flash point for most of last week — the calliope version of “La Cucaracha” rang out from an ice cream truck parked just outside the police roadblock. In front of St. John’s Episcopal Church, it was so tranquil Monday afternoon that the chirping of birds could be heard, as a white visitor paid for a $20 Black Lives Matter T-shirt.
As the nation’s capital emerges from a violent and chaotic 10-day stretch of protests and street battles, a different mood is taking hold. The anger has given way to something closer to a street fair as community leaders, members of Congress and the D.C. government have rallied to the protesters’ cause.
READ: ‘Black Lives Matter’ Mural To Stay: D.C. Mayor
RELATED:
ACLU, Others File Lawsuit Against Trump AdministrationWhat The President Said: A Trump Timeline Over 8 Days Of ChaosObama Takes On More Public Role After George Floyd, Coronavirus
Episcopal Priest ‘A Force To Be Reckoned With’ After Trump Photo
In Minnesota, two law enforcement agencies acknowledged their officers were involved in slashing the tires of the vehicles belonging to protesters and media members that were parked in a Minneapolis Kmart parking lot during protests following Floyd’s death.
Video of officers dressed in military-style fatigues and wielding knives used to slash tires of the vehicles on May 30 first surfaced on the site for Mother Jones.
On Monday, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune confirmed that state troopers and Anoka County sheriff’s deputies were involved in puncturing the tires of cars in the store parking lot at Lake Street and Nicolette Avenue.
A Minnesota Department of Public Safety spokesman told the newspaper that state troopers were involved and they “strategically deflated tires” to keep drivers from driving dangerously at high speeds around protesters and officers.
In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo is pushing the state to pass a “Say Their Name” package of police reforms in response to ongoing state protests against police brutality.
The reforms incorporate legislation that elected officials and activists have long sought to hold police more accountable, including making their disciplinary records more public, having an independent review of police killings and criminalizing police chokeholds such as those used in the deaths of Eric Garner and George Floyd.
It will also make false 911 calls based on race a hate crime, a rule first proposed in 2018 that has gained renewed attention following a viral video of a woman calling police on a black bird watcher in Central Park.
READ: NYPD Officer Charged After Shoving George Floyd
Racial Slurs Hurled At Black Lives Matter Protesters In LI
In Wisconsin, a Milwaukee attorney was arrested twice within 24 hours after police said she spat on a teenage protester Saturday during a protest march, shoved a protester on Sunday in front of her home, and later kneed an officer in the groin before she was taken to jail.
Authorities say Stephanie Rapkin, who works as an estate planning and probate attorney with an office in Mequon, was booked into the Milwaukee County Jail after she was arrested for a second time.
She’s facing multiple criminal charges, and a complaint with state law regulators.
READ: Shorewood Teen Speaks Out Following Spitting Incident
In North Carolina, the Charlotte City Council voted 9-2 to stop funding chemical agents for police use after officers boxed in and gassed protesters, AP reported.
After a demonstrator documented the use of gas June 2 in a widely shared video, the mayor condemned it and the police chief called it “disturbing.”
The city’s police department has spent $103,000 on chemical agents in 2020, City Budget Director Ryan Bergman said. Taking them away is “one step toward defunding the entire police department,” Tin Nguyen, an organizer and attorney, told the Charlotte Observer.
Additional updates from around the country from The Washington Post