George Floyd laid to rest
Service brought together family, friends, dignitaries and entertainers
By Harry Colbert, Jr. Editor-in-Chief
Gold smudges and eight minutes and 46 seconds is a long, long time.
The gold casket at the center of Frank J. Lindquist Sanctuary at North Central University in Minneapolis needed constant wiping to remove the smudges from the hands of many reaching out to touch. The hands of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, reached out to touch. Gov. Tim Walz reached out to touch. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith didn’t touch the casket, but stood in reverent silence.
At first, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey also stood in silence. But soon, for the mayor, looking wasn’t enough. He reached out to touch the casket of George Floyd, 46, killed by the actions of four Minneapolis police officers on May 25 — suffocated with the knee of Derek Chauvin on his neck. Overcome with emotion, Frey knelt … and he wept. All the while holding firm to the gold casket which now serves as the final home for Floyd’s earthly body.
The Rev. Al Sharpton eulogizing George Floyd June 4 in Minneapolis. Photo by Harry Colbert, Jr.
Speaking to a large, socially distanced audience that included the family of Floyd, several members of the Congressional Black Caucus, Martin Luther King III, Kevin Hart, Tiffany Haddish, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, T.I. Tameka “Tiny” Harris and others along with thousands who listened outside, the Rev. Al Sharpton told the crowd of mourners that the way Floyd died mirrored the way black people in America have lived for the past 401 years.
“George Floyd’s story has been the story of black folks,” said Sharpton, civil rights icon and president of the National Action Network. “This story started 401 years ago. The reason we couldn’t be who we wanted to be is because you kept your knee on our neck. We were smarter than the underfunded schools you put us in, but you had your knee on our neck. We could run corporations and not hustle in the street, but you had your knee on our neck. We could do whatever anybody else could do, but we couldn’t get your knee off our neck. What happened to Floyd happens everyday in education, health services and in every area of American life; but it’s time to stand up in George’s name and say get your knee off our necks. The reason we are marching all over the world is because, like George we couldn’t breathe; not because there was something wrong with our lungs, but because of you. You wouldn’t take your knee off our neck.”
Sharpton addressed and condemned the instances of arson and looting that plagued the Twin Cities over the past week, but he also made a distinction between those condemning the protests, but not the killing.
“The thing I want us to be real cognizant of is the difference between those calling for peace and those calling for quiet,” said Sharpton. “Some of y’all don’t want peace, you just want quiet. You just want us to shut up and suffer in silence. The overwhelming majority of the people who marched weren’t breaking windows, they were breaking barriers. They weren’t trying to steal nothing, they were trying to get back the justice you stole from us.”
While the COVID-19 virus is killing Americans to the tune of more than 100,000 since March, Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump reminded the audience Floyd was not one of its victims.
“It was not the coronavirus pandemic that killed George Floyd,” said Crump, who represents the family. “The pandemic of racism and discrimination killed George Floyd.”
Family members of Floyd remembered their loved one as a humble, loving man who treated everyone like royalty.
“People wanted to be around George. Guys who were homeless or on drugs; you couldn’t tell because George would treat you like the president,” said Philonise Floyd, George Floyd’s brother. “It’s amazing how many people loved George.”
George Floyd’s brother, Rodney Floyd said the family want justice for their beloved brother.
We will seek justice in his (George Floyd’s) name. We seek a broader, more transformative justice,” said Rodney Floyd. “What we saw on that video was torture. It was inhumane; it was evil.”
To underscore the torture George Floyd endured, Sharpton had the audience inside the chapel stand in silence for eight minutes and 46 seconds — the length of time Chauvin had his knee on the neck of Floyd.
Two significant announcements were made during the service. Sharpton announced a march on Washington, D.C. to protest police brutality. That march is set for Aug. 28, the date of the historic March on Washington presided over by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. And North Central University President Scott Hagan announced the creation of the George Floyd Memorial Scholarship. He called on university presidents across the nation to also create such a scholarship.