Ahead of the first death anniversary of George Floyd, who was choked to death by a police officer Derek Chauvin on the streets of Minnesota, the family members took to the streets, marching with hundreds of people to remember him and rally for racial equity.
In 2020, intense sit-ins had erupted after a video surfaced on social media which showed a black man named George Floyd being strangled on the street of Minnesota by a police officer while the man was saying in a low voice. “I can’t breathe, don’t kill me.”
The black man’s sister, Bridgett Floyd, while joining the protest said, “I still don’t know why.” She also runs a memorial foundation in her brother’s name and also spoke of the family’s pain and how their lives had changed in the “blink of an eye.”
“It’s been a long year. It’s been a painful year,” Bridgett Floyd said. “That officer doesn’t understand what he took from us.”
Around a million people remembered Floyd a year after his death, which had sparked intense fury in American history.
Furthermore, after the killing of Geroge Floyd, his lawyer had said in a memorial service that a “pandemic of racism” caused his death.
“It was the pandemic of racism and discrimination that caused his death,” he added.
Moreover, The Black Lives Matter demonstrations – some of which turned violent – had become a central political issue in the run-up to November’s US presidential elections 2020.
Earlier, a Minnesota judge had ordered to bring in a new charge against a police officer Derek Chauvin, who faced custody of second-degree murder and assassination following Floyd’s killing.
The prosecutors had also demanded to redeem a third-degree murder charge against the accused.
However, Judge Peter Cahill has agreed to restore the third-degree murder charge, which bears a maximum punishment of 25 years against the cop.
