Houston: Around two weeks after his death in police custody sparked a worldwide campaign against racism, the funeral of George Floyd, was held on Tuesday (local time).
A horse-drawn carriage brought George Floyd’s body to a Houston area cemetery where he was laid to rest in a private ceremony, reported Sputnik. According to the report, when a long cavalcade of cars and buses led by a horse carriage with a casket approached the cemetery, people started chanting “George Floyd,” “I can’t breathe,” “Keep your knee off my neck.”
“At a moment when he called out for his mama, we believe that the ears of mamas across this nation reared up…all mamas began to wail.”
Mary White delivers prayer of comfort at George Floyd’s funeral. https://t.co/PeN6EjWv5w pic.twitter.com/OFdEv2HK5a
— ABC News (@ABC) June 9, 2020
The death of George Floyd on May 25 has sparked a worldwide movement against police brutality, racism and social injustice, as a video showing a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, kneeling on Floyd’s neck after the latter had been arrested, was widely circulated online on the next day.
Hundreds of people came to say a final goodbye to Floyd at the Fountain of Praise Church, reported Xinhua.
Former Vice-President Joe Biden sent his condolences through video. “You’re so brave… No child should have to ask questions that too many black children have had to ask for generations: Why? Why’s daddy gone?” Biden was quoted as saying to Gianna, Floyd’s six-year-old daughter.
As per the report, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner announced at the funeral that he will sign an executive order banning the city police from using chokeholds and strangleholds.