On the Ashes of Tragedy’: Mixed Emotions on Anniversary of George Floyd’s Death

By Hawaiian Falls - May 26, 2021

The crowds that gathered in Minneapolis and elsewhere reflected on what has changed, and what has not, in America since Mr. Floyd was murdered by a police officer.

the first year can still feel like they got the news a few seconds ago.

International - All Regions, Alabama, May 26, 2021, /EmailWire/ -- MINNEAPOLIS — It was a day of reflection, of remembrance, a time to lay flowers and say prayers, to celebrate Black culture with art and music and food, and to recall the life of a man whose death, one year ago, shook the country and forced it to confront its painful legacy of racism and police brutality.

In Minneapolis on Tuesday, as people gathered to mark the anniversary of the police killing of George Floyd, there was space for it all: the trauma and the grief; some celebration, over a murder conviction of a police officer; and a measure of hope, too, that in death Mr. Floyd, a Black man, had nudged America toward more racial equality.

Mr. Floyd’s death has “really highlighted for so many people in the country the problems of police brutality and the need to defend the humanity of Black and brown people,” said Debby Pope, a Chicago teacher who came on Tuesday to George Floyd Square, where Mr. Floyd was killed.

“Of course, it’s solemn because we are remembering a brutal murder,” she said. “But it’s also a cause for celebration because on the ashes of tragedy the community has built something really beautiful.”

Even as all eyes were on Minneapolis — where the governor issued a proclamation for a moment of silence lasting nine minutes and 29 seconds, the amount of time a white officer’s knee remained on Mr. Floyd’s neck — people gathered in remembrance all across the country, to honor not just the life of Mr. Floyd, but to reflect on what has changed, and what has not, in America.

Demonstrators marched in downtown Los Angeles, Philadelphia officials planned a citywide prayer vigil, protesters in Chicago gathered to call for police reform, and Mr. Floyd’s daughter Gianna was invited to appear at an Atlanta rally titled, “My Daddy Changed the World.”

All this was happening as members of the Floyd family met privately with President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House. Afterward, the White House issued a statement in which Mr. Biden said that while it had been a year since Mr. Floyd’s death, “the first year can still feel like they got the news a few seconds ago.”

The president said he was hopeful that a police reform bill that has stalled in the Senate would reach his desk soon, saying, “we face an inflection point.”