Hundreds mourn George Floyd at funeral in Texas

Hundreds of mourners gathered on Tuesday for the funeral of George Floyd, the 46-year-old black man whose death at the hands of white police officers sparked a nationwide movement for reforms.   

Among those attending the invitation-only event at a church in Houston, Texas, were celebrities and politicians, as well as the families of several other black people who died during interactions with the police in cities around the country.   

Civil rights activist Reverend Al Sharpton tore into President Donald Trump during a eulogy, while denouncing racism as an “institutional systemic problem” that harkens back to slavery.   

“You sitting, trying to figure out how you gonna stop the protests rather than how you gonna stop the brutality. You’re calling your cabinet in, trying to figure out how its gonna affect your vote rather than how its going to affect our lives,” Sharpton said from the pulpit.   

“You scheming on how you can spin the story rather than how you can achieve justice,” he said, repeatedly using the phrase “wickedness in high places.”   

“Until we know that the price of black life is the same as the price for white life we will keep coming back to these situations over and over again,” he said.   

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden spoke against the “systematic abuse that still plagues American life” in a video address.   
Washington (dpa)