America buries George Floyd, martyred in police and racist violence

• June, 9 2020 à 20:03
• Jean-Claude Dorsainvil
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The time for the last goodbye has come: the city of Houston, Texas, buries George Floyd on Tuesday after a shower of tributes for the man who now embodies the victims of racism and police violence in the United States around the world.
The coffin of this 46-year-old African-American, killed by a white policeman a fortnight ago in Minneapolis in the north of the country, arrived in the morning at the Fountain of Praise church, in the Texas metropolis where he lived most of his life.
In complete silence, funeral staff carried him into the building, where a private funeral ceremony is scheduled for midday. On his way, the police formed an honor hedge.
George Floyd's funeral: arrival of the coffin at the churchThe police have been on the dock since his death on May 25, in circumstances that continue to freeze America: tackled, handcuffed, George Floyd was suffocated by Constable Derek Chauvin, who was kneeling on his neck for almost nine minutes.
Video of the scene, which has gone viral, has pushed Americans to take to the streets by the thousands to demand an end to "police brutality" and racial discrimination, in protests of unprecedented scale since the civil rights movement for years 1960.
"Racism is not an American problem, but a global problem," said family lawyer Benjamin Crump. "It’s all together that we will defeat him," he said on Monday after the last public tribute to George Floyd.
About 6,000 people marched all day in front of his coffin on display in the church, for a prayer or to say a last word to him, his fist raised, under the gaze of his very moved brother Philonise Floyd. "It hurts a lot to be here, it is hard and painful," he told them.

- " Mum " -
Tuesday, the ceremony will be reserved for 500 guests, relatives, some personalities like the rapper Paul Wall or the boxer Floyd Mayweather, as well as elected officials. As with a first tribute to Minneapolis on Thursday, the sermon will be delivered by Reverend Al Sharpton, a figure in the defense of civil rights.

George Floyd will then be transported to a nearby cemetery, where he will be buried alongside his mother Larcenia who died in 2018, whose nickname was "Cissy" tattooed on the chest. During his ordeal, he had begged the police officer Derek Chauvin to release him by imploring "Mum".

Become the face of police brutality, the 44-year-old agent appeared on video for justice for the first time Monday from the high security prison in which he is detained. During this short procedural hearing, the judge fixed the amount of her release bond at $ 1 million, subject to certain conditions.
It took four days for him to be arrested and charged, initially with manslaughter. His three colleagues involved in the tragedy were not then worried.
This apparent leniency of justice had stirred anger and, by the last weekend in May, the protests had escalated into violence, with clashes and nightly looting in several cities across the country.
The charge against Derek Chauvin has since been reclassified as "murder", a crime punishable by 40 years in prison, and his three colleagues have been arrested and charged with aiding and abetting.
- Reforms -
Tribute to George Floyd before his funeral in the Fountain of Praise church in Houston on June 9, 2020But peaceful demonstrations continue: tens of thousands of people, black and white, marched again this weekend, holding up "Black" signs Lives Matter ”and calling for substantive law enforcement reforms.
Their appeals have been heard by Minneapolis City Council, which plans to dismantle municipal police to put everything back on track. In Congress, nearly 200 elected officials, the majority of them Democrats, introduced legislation to end the broad immunity enjoyed by police officers.
President Donald Trump continues to want to display in the eyes of his electoral base the same firmness as since the beginning of the movement. "We are not going to cut police funds, we are not going to dismantle the police," said the Republican billionaire.