An African American’s name, in death, will be etched in history as a 21st-century U.S. tragedy that reverberated across the globe and might be remembered as an inflection point.
Floyd, who was 46 when he was killed, will be laid to rest next to his mother. On May 25, as a white Minneapolis officer pressed a knee on Floyd’s neck for several minutes even as he became unresponsive, the dying man cried out for his mother.
Floyd Investigation: The former Minneapolis police officer charged with second-degree murder in Floyd’s death will remain in custody on $1 million bail. Derek Chauvin said little during an 11-minute hearing in which he appeared on closed-circuit television from the state’s maximum security prison in Oak Park Heights.
‘Defunding Police’: Key Democrats, including presumptive presidential nominee Joe Biden, are rejecting liberal calls to “defund the police” as President Donald Trump and his allies point to the movement as a dangerous example of Democratic overreach. Supporters of the push say it’s a symbolic commitment to end systemic racism and shift policing priorities rather than an actual plan to eliminate law enforcement agencies, Steve Peoples, Alan Fram and Jonathan Lemire report.
Read key Things to Know about the Democrats’ sweeping proposals to overhaul policing.
Quick Change: In the two weeks since Floyd’s killing, police departments have banned chokeholds, Confederate monuments have fallen and officers have been arrested and charged. The moves come amid a massive, nationwide outcry against violence by police and racism. Some advocates and demonstrators say they are encouraged by the swiftness of the response. Now they want broader reforms in policing and prosecutions and are vowing to continue their fight, Sudhin Thanawala reports.
Rage in Minneapolis: The deaths of Floyd and other black men at the hands of Minneapolis police have exacerbated the corrosive relationship between people of color and a criminal justice system they feel is stacked against them. It’s a story that dates back to the 1970s, when crime rates soared in the black community in the city. Margie Mason and Robin McDowell have that story.
Nation’s Capital: As Washington emerges from a violent and chaotic 10-day stretch of protests, a different mood is taking hold. The anger has given way to something closer to a street fair as community leaders, members of Congress and the D.C. government have rallied to the protesters’ cause. Police have turned a several-block area north of Lafayette Park, a constant flashpoint last week near the White House, into an open air pedestrian space,
