George Floyd, who was born in Houston of America, lived in the 3rd district where African American people lived in the city. At the age of 12, George Floyd was 2 meters tall.
He was on the American football team of John Yates High School, where he studied, and the team finished second in the 1992 Texas Championship. Later, he transferred to South Florida High School as a basketball player, changed his high school, and started to study at South Florida High School. He studied at this school between 1993 to 1995.
George Floyd was talented not only in sports but also in music. That's why, besides sports, he worked with DJ Screw, the legendary creator of hip-hop style from Houston in the 1990s.
After high school, he started his education at the University of Texas, but he did not finish
University. It did not go well for him in the following periods. He was arrested for theft in 2007. He was sentenced to 5 years in prison. After his prison period, he actively connected with the church called Resurrection Houston in his neighborhood.
George Floyd moved to Minnesota through a Christian organization in 2018 with the encouragement of his friends. He worked as a truck driver and security guard in Minnesota. He was unemployed during the Corona epidemic.
In reality, the story of George Floyd started on May 25, 2020. Floyd bought cigarettes from the Market with 20 USD counterfeit banknotes. When the market attendant noticed the situation, he reported it to the police, and Floyd was arrested by the police. While detaining George Floyd, police officer Derek Micheal Chauvin pressed his knee to his neck, causing her death. Mr. Chauvin, who is kept his knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck for at least eight minutes and 15 seconds, Mr. Chauvin did not remove his knee even after Mr. Floyd lost consciousness and for a full minute and 20 seconds after paramedics arrived. In the footage, Floyd could be heard shouting "Mama" and "Please, please, please" repeatedly saying "I can't breathe"
According to the prosecutor's report, it was determined that he pressed his knee to Floyd's neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. After 6 seconds, George Floyd was motionless. Warnings to check the pulse of those around were heard. One of the police officers, JA Kueng, then tried to check the pulse on Floyd's right wrist, saying "but he couldn't find it". But still, the authorities did not act. At 8:27 p.m. Chauvin took his knee off Floyd's neck. Floyd, motionless, was placed on a stretcher and taken by ambulance to Hennepin District Medical Center. About an hour later, Floyd was reported to have died. This event, which was watched minute by minute, had a great impact on the country and the world press.
Large-scale funerals were held as the death of George Floyd had great repercussions in the United States and the world. The first ceremony ıt was held in Minneapolis on the North Central University campus. Religious and political leaders and Floyd's family, friends, and the Minneapolis public attended the funeral. Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo and Deputy Commissioner Dave O'conner knelt and stood in silence. The moment of silence lasted 8 minutes and 46 seconds.
After George Floyd's death, North Central University president Scott Hagan opened a scholarship program to contribute to the education of black youth and invited other universities to open a scholarship program for black youth education under the name of George Floyd.
The second funeral was held on June 9 in Houston, Texas. Texas Governor Greg Abbott also attended the funeral and informed Floyd's family's that he would open a discussion about reforming the police force. Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo was also at the ceremony. Mayor Turner's announcement that he would sign a decree prohibiting the police from using the throat pressing method received intense applause from the participants.
Joe Biden, then the Democratic presidential nominee, also had an hour-long meeting with Floyd's relatives in Houston. Biden also gave a speech at the funeral on Tuesday, via videotape. “Why are so many black Americans in this country waking up in fear of losing their lives while they are alive? We must not turn our faces away. We cannot leave this moment with the thought that we can turn our faces away from racism,'' he said.
Many famous people were present at the ceremony.
More than 4,700 protests were held for Floyd from May 26 to July 03, 2020.
Between the dates in question, 26 million people attended the demonstrations. The demonstrations took place in at least 150 cities of America.
In the surveys, half of those who participated in the demonstrations stated that they participated in a protest for the first time.
Due to the violence and looting experienced in the Floyd protests, night curfews were imposed in at least 40 cities, including the capital Washington and New York, while the National Guard was deployed in nearly 25 cities to provide support to the police.
In fact, George Floyd was not the first African American citizen killed by police.
Previously, these events occurred frequently and the images were circulating on social media. The difference of this event was that the Covid 19 epidemic carried the already high unemployment rate to around 40 million, people could not get private health insurance, and people without health insurance were left to die in this epidemic.
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