Calls ring out for change at Floyd funeral

Final farewell for police victim sees chorus of demands for race reforms

Politicians, celebrities and the relatives of African Americans who died at the hands of police were among those joining members of George Floyd's family－the latter all in white－at his funeral service in Houston on Tuesday.

Floyd, aged 46 and also an African American, died on May 25 after Derek Chauvin, then a police officer in Minneapolis, pressed his knee on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes. His death has sparked protests worldwide over the past two weeks.

In the Texas city on Tuesday, the Fountain of Praise Church was filled to near-capacity, with about 2,500 mourners.

Presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, speaking via video at the event, told Floyd's family that "unlike most, you must grieve in public, and that's a burden－a burden that's now your purpose to change the world for the better in the name of George Floyd".

Biden, a former US vice-president, addressed Floyd's 6-year-old daughter Gianna directly: "I know you have a lot of questions. No child should have to ask questions that too many black children have had to ask for generations. Why? Why's daddy gone?"

Biden continued: "We can't turn away. We must not turn away. We cannot leave this moment thinking we can again turn away from racism that stings our very soul, from systematic abuse that still plagues American life."

US Congressman Al Green, who represents southwestern Houston, said that Floyd's crime was that he was born black. Green said he plans to present the family with a resolution that will become part of the Congressional Record.

"George Floyd changed the world. And we are going to make the world know that he made a difference," he said.

Green also called for the federal government to create a Department of Reconciliation.

"We survived segregation, but we didn't reconcile," he said. "It's time for a Department of Reconciliation in the highest land."

Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, who represents central Houston, said Floyd's "purpose and his assignment" are to bring justice to the US.

"What I will say is that the assignment of George Floyd and the purpose will mean there will be no more 8:46 of police brutality," referring to the count in minutes and seconds when Chauvin pressed down on Floyd's neck, she said.

"There will be no more 8:46 of injustice and the mistreatment of African-American men at the hands of the laws of this nation or anyone else. There will be no more 8:46 that you will be in pain without getting justice."

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner proclaimed that June 9 will be designated George Perry Floyd, Jr. Day in the city, Floyd's hometown.

Turner said the city attorney was drafting an executive order that will ban chokeholds.

Floyd's body was escorted by officers of the Houston Police Department after the funeral, and taken to Houston Memorial Gardens in Pearland in a white carriage drawn by two white horses. He was buried next to his mother, to whom he called out with his final, dying words.

Push to address violence

Floyd's death also prompted US lawmakers to push for reforms to address police violence. In Minneapolis, where Chauvin and three other former police officers were charged over their involvement in the killing, four city council members on Monday outlined a plan that would see community-based programs replace the city's police department.

A majority of the city council members on Sunday vowed to dismantle the police department, which has long been accused of racism.

In Albany, New York state lawmakers on Tuesday voted to repeal a decades-old provision that had kept police officers' disciplinary records secret, making the records and misconduct complaints transparent.

On a national scale, Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives and the Senate on Monday introduced legislation aiming to reform policing in the country.

According to the text of the Justice in Policing Act of 2020 cited by media, the bill will make it easier to prosecute police misconduct and recover damages caused by law enforcement.

The US military is also rethinking its traditional connection to Confederate Army symbols, mindful of their divisiveness at a time the nation is wrestling with questions of racial inequality.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy, both former army officers, put out word through their spokesmen that they are "open to a bipartisan discussion" of renaming army bases such as North Carolina's Fort Bragg that honor Confederate officers who led the fight against the Union and－directly or implicitly－defended the institution of slavery.

Xinhua and agencies contributed to this story.