Police reform and civil rights activists joined thousands of ordinary people Sunday to mark the fifth anniversary of George Floyd’s murder at religious services, concerts and vigils nationwide and decry the Trump administration for setting their efforts back decades.
The Rev. Al Sharpton said at a Houston graveside service that Floyd represented all of those “who are defenseless against people who thought they could put their knee on our neck.”
He compared Floyd’s killing to that of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black child who was abducted and lynched in Mississippi in 1955 after being accused of offending a white woman.
“What Emmett Till was in his time, George Floyd has been for this time in history,” Sharpton said.
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In a park about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) away from the gravesite, a memorial service was set to take place, followed by five hours of music, preaching and poetry readings and a balloon release.
Events started Friday in Minneapolis with concerts, a street festival and a “self-care fair,” and culminate with a worship service, gospel music concert and candlelight vigil on Sunday.
The remembrances come at a fraught moment for activists, who had hoped the worldwide protests that followed Floyd’s murder on May 25, 2020, would lead to permanent police reform across the U.S. and a continued focus on racial justice issues.
Events in Minneapolis center around George Floyd Square, the intersection where police Officer Derek Chauvin used his knee to pin Floyd’s neck to the pavement for 9 1/2 minutes, even as the 46-year-old Black man’s cried “I can’t breathe.” Even with Minneapolis officials’ promises to remake the police department, some activists contend the progress has come at a glacial pace.
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“We understand that change takes time,” Michelle Gross, president of Communities United Against Police Brutality, said in a statement last week. “However, the progress being claimed by the city is not being felt in the streets.”
The Trump administration moved Wednesday to cancel settlements with Minneapolis and Louisville that called for an overhaul of their police departments following the Floyd’s murder and the killing of Breonna Taylor. Under Democratic President Joe Biden, the U.S. Justice Department had aggressively pushed for aggressive oversight of local police it had accused of widespread abuses.
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Trump has also declared an end to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives within the federal government and his administration is using federal funds as leverage to force local governments, universities and public school districts to do the same. Republican-led states also have accelerated their efforts to stamp out DEI initiatives.