Two years have passed since the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Derek Chauvin as other members of Minnesota law enforcement stood idly by. Chauvin pressed a handcuffed Floyd to the ground with his knee for nine minutes and 29 seconds as Floyd repeatedly said that he could not breathe.
The murder of Floyd, along with the deaths of Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain and many other Black individuals killed by police officers in the U.S., led to nationwide protests in the summer of 2020 supporting the Black Lives Matter movement and calling for the reduction of police budgets across the country.
In April 2021, a jury convicted Chauvin of murdering Floyd, finding the former office guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter.
On Wednesday, President Biden is expected to issue an executive order targeted at overhauling policing, instructing federal law enforcement agencies to revise use-of-force policies, granting incentives to state and local agencies to take on the same revisions and restricting the transfer of some military equipment to police. The order also calls for the creation of a national registry of law enforcement members fired for misconduct to help prevent agencies from taking on officers who had been dismissed in other areas.
Barack Obama, Bernice King and others took to social media on Wednesday to remember and pay tribute to Floyd two years after his murder.
Obama also acknowledged Tuesday’s elementary school shooting in Texas in his tribute, writing: “As we grieve the children of Uvalde today, we should take time to recognize that two years have passed since the murder of George Floyd under the knee of a police officer. His killing stays with us all to this day, especially those who loved him.”
Bernice King wrote, “We are mourning. Black people sought and slaughtered in #Buffalo. Children and teachers gunned down at school in #Uvalde. Persistent racism and gun violence throughout the nation. And today, we remember #GeorgeFloyd, who should be alive raising his daughter.”
Read more tributes below.
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