A year after his killing exposed the nation to racial injustice, relatives of George Floyd met on Tuesday with President Joe Biden at the White House and legislators in Capitol Hill to call for a police reform law in the name of their loved one.
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Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who died in handcuffs with a white Minneapolis police officer on his neck for more than nine minutes, became the face of a national organization opposed to police brutality and bias in the U.S. justice system.
His death words, "I can't breathe," echoed as a slogan in street demonstrations that rocked the United States and the rest of the country during the summer epidemic of coronavirus.
But Monday's visit to the private office at the Oval Office was the first time any of Floyd's family had been detained in the White House, living since January by Democratic officials.
Biden's predecessor in the Republican presidency, Donald Trump, has been widely criticized for politically motivated rhetoric stemming from the recent racial slurs following Floyd's assassination.
Floyd's relatives used their trip to Washington on the anniversary of his death to urge Biden and Congress to pass a law that would ensure fair treatment of minors by law enforcement.
In March, the House of Representatives led by the Democratic Party passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, seeking to end rival police tactics such as "choke hold," while making it easier to prosecute police for wrongdoing. Learn more
A two-party international law group has been working to secure agreements to secure adequate support for the Republic to ensure a transition to the Senate, where Democrats hold a narrow line of control.
"If you can make state laws to protect the (national) bird, which is a bald eagle, you can make corporate laws to protect white people," said Floyd's brother Philonise on the way to the White House after five other family members met Biden and Deputy President Pamela Harris.
He described Biden as a supportive man and "a man of integrity."
"He has informed us that he supports the bill, but he wants to make sure that it is the right bill and not an urgent bill," said Floyd's nephew Brandon Williams.
'WE MUST ACT-UPON'
A few minutes before he left the White House by helicopter shortly after returning home to Delaware, Biden told reporters he had spoken to negotiations on the bill and "hoped that after the memorial we would have an agreement."
"We have to do something," Biden said in a statement issued by the White House. "The American soul war has always been pushed between the American idea that we are all made equal to the sad fact that racism has long divided us."
Senator Tim Scott, the leading Republican negotiator, told the media on Tuesday that the main point of the dispute remains unprotected, a legal doctrine that protects individual police officers in certain cases. Learn more
Republicans oppose the provisions in the bill that reverse such insecurities, while most democratic Democrats say they will only support a draft bill.
"We still have a lot to do, but it's starting to happen," Scott said.
The commemoration of Floyd's death also coincided with the swearing-in of Kristen Clarke as assistant U.S. attorney general. Human rights, prompting him to face an investigation into police misconduct in Minneapolis.
Her nomination was slightly approved by the Senate on Tuesday, making her the first woman, and the first Black woman, she confirmed in that post. Learn more
Speaking to reporters after the swearing-in ceremony at the Department of Justice, Harris, the first woman and the first woman to be elected vice-president, praised Floyd's family for taking on roles as advocates of justice.
"They have shown so much dignity in spite of such a tragedy," Harris said. "George Floyd must be alive today."
FLOYD'S DEATH ANNIVERSARY
In Minneapolis, a foundation built in Floyd's memory by members of his family organized an afternoon of music and food in a park near the city court when Derek Chauvin, a former official, was found guilty of killing Floyd last month. Learn more
Cauvin, 45, will serve a 40-year prison sentence upon sentencing on June 25. Three other police officers at the scene have pleaded not guilty to assisting and supporting Cauvin, and will begin trial next year. The Minneapolis Police Department fired all four officers the next day following Floyd's assassination.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey joined activists in a city center in the city center for nine minutes and 29 seconds of peace commemorating Floyd's assassination.
Later on Tuesday in a Minneapolis car corner set aside as George Floyd Square after his death there, crowds shared music and children's activities ahead of a candlelight vigil planned to pay his respects to the place where he was killed.
A video of the murder, recorded by young viewer Darnella Frazier, has spread after it was posted on social media, sparking outrage around the world. Floyd was accused of embezzling $ 20 to buy cigarettes during his arrest.
Across the country, about 300 protesters marching on New Year's Day staged a noisy, peaceful march in New York City, Brooklyn, chanting: "No justice, no peace." A diverse group of 300 to 400 marches across the Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan.
The law has been followed in all 50 U.S. states. Together with the District of Columbia to increase accountability or police oversight, with 24 states enacting new laws, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
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