A year after his killing sparked a national reckoning over racial injustice, George Floyd's relatives met on Tuesday with President Joe Biden to urge passage of a police reform bill, while people around the country continued the call for change.
Lisa Bernhard produced this report.
The U.S. on Tuesday marked one year since the murder of George Floyd at the hands of police with mostly peaceful gatherings - and with Floyd’s family visiting the White House on the day President Joe Biden had set as a deadline for passage of a police reform bill in Floyd’s name, but that is still stalled in Congress.
Floyd family attorney Ben Crump: “The President and the Vice President met with the family for over an hour.
He wanted to check on them on today of all days, to see how they were doing, to reiterate that they are still doing everything to make sure that his legacy is respected, and that involves us going to meet with Senators in just a few moments to continue to press forward for the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act that he says he is ready to sign any day.” Floyd’s brother Philonise had another way of putting it by saying that if the country can pass federal laws to protect bald eagles, it can pass a law to protect people of color.
Biden later said he was hopeful a bill would be on his desk after Memorial Day.
In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio and civil rights activist Reverend Al Sharpton kneeled for nine minutes and 29 seconds – the amount of time that convicted Minneapolis policer officer Derek Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd’s neck.
[SHARPTON]: "As we took that knee, imagine how long that was on a human being's neck.
It's time we correct policing in this country." Around the country, protests and marches were smaller than in the immediate aftermath of Floyd’s death, but the passion from those attending was still strong.
At a gathering at the Minneapolis intersection where Floyd was killed – now called George Floyd Square – a scare occurred when multiple gunshots were heard, with one person suffering a non-life threatening injury, according to media reports.
A candlelight vigil at the stretch of road where Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck was planned for Tuesday evening.
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