Dozens of US cities remembered this Tuesday the African-American George Floyd, who died of suffocation by a police officer in Minneapolis (Minnesota) just a year ago today, with the pending promise of police reform that eliminates brutality against racial minorities in the country.. The first to make clear this eternal desire on the part of progressive sectors for change was US President Joe Biden, who received Floyd's relatives at the White House to discuss the George Floyd Police Justice Act, a proposal legislation that is stalled in the US Congress.

“The president is still very hopeful that he will sign the George Floyd Police Justice Act.. We are working very closely with the negotiators,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said at a press conference.. In a message on social networks, Biden said that the US “now faces a turning point” and stressed, alluding to this legislative project, that political leaders have to act.

THE FAMILY PRESSES BIDEN AND CONGRESS

On the anniversary of Floyd's death, his relatives visited the US Congress and the White House to pressure Biden and lawmakers to make legislation a reality that was originally to be passed within 365 days of the tragic event in a south corner of Minneapolis. One of Floyd's brothers, Philonise, assured at a press conference at the Capitol that the bill is necessary in the US and “must reach Biden's desk.”

“We need him to take care of that,” he said at the US Capitol accompanied by several members of the Floyd family, such as the daughter of the deceased, Pelosi and other Democratic legislators, such as Karen Bass.. Floyd's death then triggered the largest wave of protests and racial riots in the US since the late 1960s after the assassination of Martin Luther King with a single plea: an end to police brutality against racial minorities.

The bill that Philonise referred to in the media, written by members of the Black Caucus, made up of Democrats, remains stalled in the halls of the US Congress. The legislation has the support of Biden and aims to end, among other things, the use of strangulation techniques, as well as “legal immunity” for officers and the militarization of police departments.

Today marks one year since the death of George Floyd ACCIDENTED TRIBUTE IN MINNEAPOLIS

While Floyd's family was in the country's capital, dozens of people paid tribute to the African-American who died on May 25, 2020 at the place where he died of suffocation by former police officer Derek Chauvin.. And on this day, which should have been peaceful, an incident was recorded. The corner of the south Minneapolis street where Floyd stopped breathing was the scene of a shooting this Tuesday that resulted in one person being injured, a spokesperson for the city Police Department confirmed to Efe.

According to that source, about ten shots were fired near the square now known as “George Floyd Plaza”, right on the corner of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue at 10:10 local time (15:10 GMT).. Witnesses collected by the agents reported that several people saw a suspicious vehicle leaving the area “at high speed.”. Shortly thereafter, one person was taken to a local hospital with a gunshot wound and later admitted to the Hennepin County Medical Center for treatment, although his injuries were not serious.

OTHER CITIES REMEMBER FLOYD

Beyond the scary scenes experienced in Minneapolis, the tributes to Floyd in other cities, such as New York or Miami, passed normally. Authorities and community leaders in New York knelt this Tuesday for 9 minutes and 29 seconds in memory of George Floyd, in an act led by the well-known civil rights activist Al Sharpton, who runs the National Action Network organization. The event also featured the mayor of the Big Apple, Bill de Blasio; several of the candidates to succeed him in office and local officials working in the fight against racism. “George Floyd will not only go down in history as a martyr, but also as a turning point for policing in the United States,” said Sharpton, who highlighted the “intergenerational and multiracial” movement that last year, and despite the pandemic of COVID-19, took to the streets of the country to demand racial justice.