As protests against police brutality continue across the country, the first memorial service for George Floyd is being held in Minneapolis.
On Thursday, friends and family of the late Floyd, who was killed by police officers while unarmed, have come together at North Central University's Frank J. Lindquist Sanctuary to pay their respects. Among those in attendance were Rev. Al Sharpton, who delivered the eulogy; Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey's approached Floyd's casket shortly before the service started. Rev. Jesse Jackson, Minnesota Rep. Illhan Omar, Martin Luther King III, and Kevin Hart also showed up to pay their respects.
North Central University president Scott Hagan announced a memorial schlorship fund in Floyd's name, and has urged other schools to give access to funds in a similiar fashion. "We didn't have a whole lot, but we always had each other," said Floyd's cousin Shareeduh Tate. "And we were taught that we could always bring people into the fold. No one should ever go home without having a meal or having food."
Floyd was killed on May 25, and a bystander captured the moment on video. Officer Derek Chuavin put Floyd in handcuffs and kneeled on his neck for over eight minutes. "I can't breathe," Floyd told Chauvin and the three other officers present at the time. "The cause of death was that he was starving for air. It was lack of oxygen," said Floyd's family lawyer Ben Crump. Chauvin has been arrested, and has been charged with murder in the second-degree. The three other officers, Tou Thao, Thomas Lane, and J. Alexander Kueng, have also been arrested and have been charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder.
The service on Thursday will be followed by a service on Saturday at Cape Fear Conference B Headquarters in Raeford, North Carolina, then Monday and Tuesday at Fountains of Praise in Houston. Protests in response to Floyd's death have already provoked change, as the Minneapolis Board of Education voted unanimously to dissolve the district's contract with the Minneapolis Police Department on Tuesday.
It was also announced that the Floyd family and Al Sharpoton will hold a march in Washington D.C. in August to call for a federal policing equality act."
Stream the memorial service above.
