By Brooke Wilson-
George Floyd’s brother, Terrence Floyd has encouraged the public to keep his brother’s name ringing, as he urged the crowd to to “stay woke” a year after the murder of his brother at the hands of Minneapolis police office Derek Chauvin.
The call came during a rally arranged by Reverend Al Sharpton, and after a poll revealed that 75% of Americans believe the U.S is racist. The findings of the poll is nothing new, but also true is that America is a great country with plenty of opportunity for ambitious people, including people of color. America’s shameful past of racism is something to be continually addressed in a progressive manner. The awful killing if George Floyd is going some way in tackling racial issues in America,
George Floyd was killed on 25 May after evil Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes following a police callout over the use of a suspected fake banknote. His family have been paid $26m compensation for the cruel killing- a huge sum of money, which cannot bring back George Floyd.
A year on from his death, his family have organised events including a candlelit vigil, memorial march and rally – with his brother Terrence commenting at one such event that he wants people to keep raising awareness in the aftermath of the killing.
“This is just the beginning. The change has started. A lot of negatives were turned into positives in this year, but we have a long way to go,” said Terrence Floyd, speaking from the George Floyd rally in Brooklyn, New York, on Sunday.
“If you keep my brother’s name ringing, you’re going to keep everybody else’s name ringing. Breonna Taylor, Sean Bell, Ahmaud Arbery, you could go through the whole list. There’s a lot of them.”
Encouraging the crowd to “stay woke”, he added: “Don’t just open your eyes, stretch, yawn and think that it’s over.
“Now that your eyes are open and you know what my culture goes through, I want my culture to stay woke but I want the other cultures that’s supporting us to stay woke.”
Other speakers at the event included the Reverend Al Sharpton, who organised the gathering.
In Minnesota, George Floyd’s sister Bridgett Floyd spoke at the One Year, What’s Changed? rally, telling the crowd: “It has been very frustrating for me and my family for our lives to change in the blink of an eye – I still don’t know why.”
Floyd’s family took to the streets of Minneapolis on Sunday and marched with hundreds of people in the first of several events planned nationwide to mark the anniversary of his death.
Many people in the crowd carried signs with pictures of Floyd and other Black people killed by police.
“It has been a long year. It has been a painful year,” Floyd’s sister, Bridgett Floyd, told the crowd.
“It has been very frustrating for me and my family for our lives to change in the blink of an eye – I still don’t know why,” she said, referring to her brother’s death.
Protesters march during one year what has changed rally Image: Reuters /Nicholas Pfosi
Other speakers at the event included Floyd family attorney Ben Crump and civil rights activist Reverend Al Sharpton, who has called for an end to racial inequality in the criminal justice system with the demand “get your knee off our necks.”
“We want something coming out of Washington. We want something that will change federal law,” Sharpton said on Sunday. “There’s been an adjournment on justice for too long.”
The George Floyd Memorial Foundation, a nonprofit launched by Floyd’s siblings in September to fight racial inequality, is hosting a series of events in Minneapolis in the coming week to honor Floyd.
“George Floyd should not go down in history as someone with a knee on his neck, but as someone who broke the chain of police brutality and illegality,” Sharpton said.