Civil rights leader Al Sharpton delivered a fierce eulogy at George Floyd’s funeral on Tuesday, punctuated by the deep chords of a church organ. POOL/AFP
The US city of Houston said farewell to George Floyd in a rousing hometown funeral on Tuesday, with poignant tributes and calls for justice for the 46-year-old African American whose death “touched the world” and ignited global protests against police brutality and racism.
Politicians, civil rights activists and celebrities joined in sharing memories of the man they called a “gentle giant” after his golden casket was carried into the sanctuary by six pallbearers in masks, as a row of police officers stood at attention and saluted.
Civil rights leader Al Sharpton delivered a fierce eulogy, punctuated by the deep chords of a church organ, in which he accused President Donald Trump of showing indifference over Floyd’s death, and sending police a signal of impunity.
“We are fighting wickedness in high places!” Sharpton thundered, uttering the phrase over and over as he accused Trump of “scheming on how you can spin the story rather than how you can achieve justice.
“You sit now trying to figure out how you’re going to stop the protest, rather than how you’re going to stop the brutality,” he said, charging: “The signals that we’re sending is that if you are in law enforcement, that the law doesn’t apply to you.”
Acknowledging the presence of the parents of previous victims of police violence – including Eric Garner, Botham Jean and Michael Brown – Sharpton said they “know better than anyone else the pain” of the Floyd family.
“Until we know the price for black life is the same as the price for white life, we’re going to keep coming back to these situations over and over again,” the preacher told The Fountain of Praise Church in southern Houston.
Though the occasion was solemn, the church echoed with music and words of fond remembrance for a man whose savage death galvanised a movement.
Sharpton said: “Even in a pandemic, people are walking out in the streets not even following social distancing because you’ve touched the world.
“And as we lay you to rest today, the movement won’t rest until we get justice.”
Floyd died on May 25 as a white Minneapolis officer pressed a knee into his neck for almost nine minutes, his pleas of “I can’t breathe” becoming a rallying cry for protesters.
His death has come to embody fractured relations between communities of colour and police in the US and beyond as tens of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets.
The Fountain of Praise was the final stage in a series of ceremonies before Floyd’s coffin was conveyed by horse-drawn carriage in the early evening to his final resting place by his mother’s grave.
On the way to the Houston Memorial Gardens cemetery, the cortege passed hundreds of well-wishers who chanted Floyd’s name. “Rest in power” was scrawled in blue chalk on the road, while one held up a sign saying: “We will never forget.”
Some 500 guests – all masked due the coronavirus pandemic – were at the funeral, including actors Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx, filmmaker Tyler Perry, singer Ne-Yo and boxing champion Floyd Mayweather who is reportedly paying all expenses.
