‘This is not a sprint’: People reflect locally, nationally marking 1 year since death of George Floyd

MINNEAPOLIS — Members of George Floyd’s family, and others who lost loved ones to police encounters, joined activists and citizens in Minneapolis for a march that was one of several events planned nationwide to mark the one-year anniversary of Floyd’s death.

Tuesday marked one year since Floyd, who was Black, died after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin held his knee on Floyd’s neck as he pleaded for air. Floyd’s death sparked worldwide protests and calls for change in policing in the U.S. Chauvin, who is white, was convicted of murder and manslaughter in his death.

“His life changed the whole scope of policing in this country,” said the Rev. Corine Mack, NAACP. “It opened the eyes of so many of our allies who never really understood what it meant to be Black.”

Mack organized a rally in Marshal Park in uptown Charlotte.

“It’s a lot, a lot of emotion, a lot of feeling and a lot of disappointment in a way,” community activist Cass Ottley said. “I thought we would be further along.”

Ottley has been actively protesting over the past year. The crowd was significantly larger since the protests in 2020.

“So I think it’s keeping people engaged and also calling people out,” Ottley said. “We had a lot of people out here taking knees and standing in unity with us, and I wonder where those people are a year later. This is not a sprint. It’s a marathon.”

Hundreds of people gathered for the rally Sunday in front of the courthouse in downtown Minneapolis where former police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted last month in Floyd’s death. Many carried signs with pictures of Floyd, Philando Castile and other Black men killed by police.

Amid chants of “no justice, no peace!” and “Say his name,” Gov. Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter watched alongside a dozen of Floyd’s family members as speakers called for justice for families of Black men slain by police.

“It has been a long year. It has been a painful year,” Floyd’s sister Bridgett told the crowd on Sunday. “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.”

Speakers at the event included several local activists, Floyd family attorney Ben Crump, and the Rev. Al Sharpton, who called on the U.S. Senate to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. The legislation, which would bring about the most significant changes to policing on the federal level, would ban the use of chokeholds and establish a national database of police misconduct.

“We want something coming out of Washington. We want something that will change federal law,” Sharpton said. “There’s been an adjournment on justice for too long. It’s time for them to vote and make this the law.”

The George Floyd Memorial Foundation, a nonprofit based in Fayetteville, North Carolina, where Floyd was born, was hosting a series of events in Minneapolis to honor Floyd on the anniversary.

The nonprofit was launched in Floyd’s honor by his siblings in September 2020 to help combat racial inequities in Black and brown communities.

Other events in Minneapolis ahead of the anniversary include a virtual “day of action” that encourages people to organize remotely and two panels with the families and other activists on Monday, followed by a community festival and candlelight vigil on Tuesday.

In New York on Sunday, Floyd’s brother, Terrence, attended a gathering in Brooklyn in his brother’s memory organized by Sharpton. Terrence Floyd told supporters not to forget his brother or victims of racist violence.

“If you keep my brother’s name ringing, you’re going to keep everybody else’s name ringing,” he said. “Breonna Taylor, Sean Bell, Ahmaud Arbery, you could go through the whole list. There’s a lot of them.”

Executive director Jacari Harris said the group has received donations from the Minneapolis Foundation, Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation and athletic shoe and apparel retailer Finish Line, among others. Despite large grants from corporations and other organizations, Harris said the average donation to the nonprofit was $47.

Harris said the group has also funded an initiative in Fayetteville to help reduce homelessness, a scholarship program for law school students and an internship program at Texas A&M University, where Floyd went to school.

In the year since Floyd’s death, a national dialogue on police reform has taken center stage, and it could bring about change. President Joe Biden has called on the Senate to follow the House and pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. It would ban chokeholds and no-knock warrants, set up a national registry for police misconduct and overhaul qualified immunity, a legal doctrine that shields law enforcement from civil lawsuits.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department made changes to policing practices following Floyd’s death. They updated their neglect of duty policy, requiring officers to step in if they see other officers using too much force, and they banned not only chokeholds, but any hold that cuts off oxygen to the brain.

In Charlotte on Tuesday, the NAACP will hold a rally and march in memory of Floyd. It will begin at Marshall Park at 6 p.m. with several speakers. People will then march to Romare Bearden Park for what organizers are calling a celebration of life and commitment to justice.

In Catawba County, the Democratic Party is holding a vigil at 6:30 p.m. at the Samuel Davis multi-purpose field in Hickory.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

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