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By John Bachtell
Beneath the backdrop of unrelenting coast-to-coast multi-racial protests, six days of mourning began for George Floyd with a memorial service at North Central University in Minneapolis. Mr. Floyd was murdered May 25 in a public extrajudicial racist police execution.
Others joined in prayer, left flowers, cards, played music, and sang at a memorial created at the site where Mr. Floyd was killed.
Mr. Floyd’s murder ignited the most significant wave of mass protests in 50 years and reminds many of the gruesome racist murder of Emmett Till in 1955. Till’s death, and his family’s decision for an open casket funeral, stirred a national outcry, setting the stage for the Civil Rights uprising that followed.
Meanwhile, momentum is building among activists, the city of Minneapolis, Gov. Tim Walz, and the state legislature for new approaches to public safety. The new approaches include “sweeping structural change” to dismantle systemic racism, white supremacy, and brutality within the Minneapolis Police Department against African-American, Native American, and other communities of color.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, leading the investigation and prosecution of Mr. Floyd’s killers, elevated charges against Officer Derek Chauvin to 2nd-degree murder. Ellison also charged three other officers involved in Mr. Floyd’s death with...
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