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HOUSTON. — George Floyd was yesterday laid to rest in Houston, where he was born, two weeks after his death in Minneapolis police custody sparked worldwide protests.
Floyd’s death has launched a nationwide debate over defunding the police after being pinned down by the neck for nearly nine minutes by a police officer who has been fired, arrested and being held on $1.25 million bail.
Both Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and President Trump, a Republican say they oppose defunding the police, though they have sharply different views on what the future of policing in the US should look like.
In a pre-recorded video testimonial aired at George Floyd’s funeral in Houston, Texas, former Vice President Joe Biden reached out to the surviving children of George Floyd with a heartfelt plea for their future and said, “Now is the time for racial justice.”
“I know you have a lot of questions, honey,” he said, addressing Floyd’s 6-year-old daughter, Gianna, who was in attendance at The Fountain of Praise church.
“No child should have to ask questions that too many black children have had to ask for generations. Why? Why is daddy gone?”
“Why in this nation do too many black Americans wake up knowing that they could lose their life in the course of just living their life? Why does justice not roll like a river or righteousness like a mighty stream? Why?”
Biden added, “Little Gianna, as I said to you when I saw you yesterday, you’re so brave. Daddy’s looking down and he’s so proud of you.”
“When there’s justice for George Floyd, we will truly be on our way to racial justice in America.” New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said yesterday he was “disgusted” by President Donald Trump’s claim that a 75-year-old man seen in video being pushed by a Buffalo police officer during a protest “fell harder than (he) was pushed”.
“President Trump did a tweet today that surprises me even after all the tweets he has done,” Cuomo said at his daily news briefing.
“You read his tweets, you get to a point where you say, ‘Well, nothing could surprise me — I’ve seen it all,” Cuomo added. “And then you get surprised again. You get shocked again. You get disgusted again.” Trump suggested that the protestor, Martin Gugino, had staged his fall at the hands of an officer during a protest last Thursday, and that he could be “an ANTIFA provocateur” who appeared to be trying to electronically black out police communications.
Two Buffalo officers were arraigned on assault charges on Saturday over the incident, which left Gugino hospitalised. — Al Jazeera-Herald Reporter.
Online Reporter