In the scorching heat in Houston, Texas, a long line of people wait to collect themselves in front of the coffin of George Floyd, the 46-year-old African American whose death during a police intervention on May 25 in Minneapolis, a caused outrage in the United States and around the world, Radio Canada International reported.
Biden: “Our nation is at an inflection point. We can choose four more years of Donald Trump’s poisonous rhetoric and divisive politics — or we can take the next great step forward”.
Authorities in Houston, the city where George Floyd grew up, are waiting for nearly 10,000 people at the Burning Chapel, which is held until 6 p.m. local time (7 p.m. EDT) at The Fountain of Praise Church.
As for his funeral, it will be celebrated Tuesday in the suburbs of Houston, at Pearland, where he will be buried next to his mother. The ceremony will be reserved for relatives.
Monday, to allow people who knew him to say a last goodbye, shuttles were set up from the neighborhood where George Floyd, the Third Ward, grew up, a very poor area where a large part of the African American community in Houston.
The University of Houston has also canceled its courses to allow its students to pay tribute and reflect on the events taking place in our nation .
On the site of the burning chapel, there was no assembly or seating in the church, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Masks and gloves are necessary to be able to enter the place of worship, and no more than 15 people at a time are admitted. These cannot stay inside for more than 10 minutes.
In addition, participants are subject to temperature control and must pass through a metal detector.
George Floyd graduated from Jack Yates High School in 1992, where he helped the soccer team win the state championship. He also played basketball there. Before moving to Minneapolis, he was also well known on the Houston music scene, where he rapped with a group called Screwed Up Clik.
The man had already had trouble leaving with the police and the justice system. He had had drug problems and has already been arrested for robbery of a house.
Biden-Trump counterpoint
While greeting George Floyd’s family in Houston, the Democratic presidential candidate, Joe Biden, announced that his party is going to push a law in Congress for a radical reform of the United States Police.
“We’re facing some of the greatest challenges in our history, and Donald Trump is patting himself on the back. He just has no idea what’s really going on in this country”, Biden said.
But Trump, for his part, categorically assured that “we will not be defunding, dismantling, or disbanding our police”.
Your advertisement after announcement comes after a decision by Minneapolis councilors who mostly want to dismantle that city’s police.