One Year Since The Death Of George Floyd
![The family of the late George Floyd meets with representatives in the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on May 25, 2021. [AFP / Shawn Thew]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f21dbb91adde3260d4ba1ef/1621968559773-TBPCBGCF4QLCL349HZG5/000_9AQ6MJ.jpg)
The family of the late George Floyd meets with representatives in the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on May 25, 2021. [AFP / Shawn Thew]
One year ago today, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd, igniting a global uprising against policing.
On the anniversary of Floyd’s death, advocates and politicians are sharing messages of comfort with Floyd’s family. Today, the family has traveled to Washington, DC, to meet with President Joe Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA). “Before his name became a hashtag, #GeorgeFloyd was a human being who mattered,” Bernice King, CEO of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center, tweeted on Tuesday. “I’m praying for his family today.”
Families of other police brutality victims came together in Minneapolis yesterday for the George Floyd Memorial Foundation's Inaugural Remembrance, where they called for serious reform.
There has been a sea change in public opinion about police brutality this year. Legislators have passed a raft of new state and local laws and regulations (of mixed quality). Today marks President Biden’s deadline to Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, though it will not be met. Many reforms to be made in Floyd’s name are surely still to come.
Ultimately though, today is a reminder that while Floyd’s death will always be intertwined with the movement that followed it, Floyd’s life is what mattered to the people who loved him.
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