Rev. Al Sharpton gave the eulogy at the service.
America honored George Floyd Thursday as a memorial service for the father who died in police custody took place in Minneapolis. The memorial service, which was held at North Central University, was not open to the public but was live-streamed by several broadcast networks.
At the beginning of the service, the president of the university, Scott Hagan, announced a scholarship in honor of Floyd. Benjamin Crump also spoke and said Floyd didn’t die of coronavirus, but another pandemic.
“It was that other pandemic we’re all too familiar with in America — it was that pandemic of racism and discrimination that killed George Floyd,” Crump said.
Rev. Al Sharpton gave the eulogy at the service.
On Wednesday, a passenger in Floyd’s SUV during his arrest spoke out for the first time. Maurice Lester Hall, 42, told the New York Times that Floyd did not resist arrest and was trying to diffuse the situation.
“He was, from the beginning, trying in his humblest form to show he was not resisting in no form or way,” Hall told the paper. “I could hear him pleading, ‘Please, officer, what’s all this for?’”
Hall was found in Houston and arrested for outstanding warrants and then interviewed by Minnesota state authorities.
Floyd’s death became the source of national outrage after video surfaced of since fired Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes while Floyd repeatedly told officers he could not breathe.
While Chauvin was initially charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter, thousands of protesters across the nation took the streets calling for the a higher charge and for the other three officers who were on the scene to be charged.
That call was answered on Wednesday when Chauvin’s charges were upgraded to second-degree murder and former officers Tuo Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng were also charged with aiding and abetting and second degree murder.
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