"I'm going to change the world. A high school classmate of George Floyd remembers hearing him repeat this wish many times as a teenager. On Tuesday, the African American, who was suffocated for nearly nine minutes by police over two weeks ago in Minneapolis, was buried alongside his mother in Houston, the Texas city where he grew up.
After five days of public tributes in Minneapolis, North Carolina and Houston, the family of the deceased, dressed in white, gathered in The Fountain Praise for a ceremony broadcast live worldwide. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden sent a video message to the family. “No child should have to ask this question that so many black American children ask themselves: why did Dad leave? He said to Gianna, the daughter of George Floyd.
In two weeks, the latter has become a symbol of anti-racism in the United States. And has even managed to make people forget the coronavirus pandemic still active in the country. Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets to demand an end to police violence and racism against blacks. As if the death of George Floyd, after that of Trayvon Martin in Florida, Eric Garner in New York or Michael Brown in Ferguson, was the episode too many.
VIDEO. Historic protests in the United States, two weeks after the death of George Floyd
The Black Lives Matter movement, created in July 2013 to speak out against structural racism, has never been as powerful as it is today. "Not too long ago," the Black Lives Matter was already "a rallying cry for justice," tweeted left-wing superstar Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. But “politicians were afraid that it would go wrong in the polls, that it would be too divisive, that it would require too much explanation. Now even Mitt Romney is chanting it. "
"White silence is violence"
The Republican, a candidate against Obama in 2012 and a bane of Donald Trump, joined the parades this weekend. In the processions, the Whites are en masse alongside the Blacks. They reflect on their role in discrimination, how they can help the cause. "White silence is violence," can be read on their placards.
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In "Black Lives Matter", those who, in the conservative camp, counter "All Lives Matter" ("All lives count") or "White Lives Matter" ("The life of whites counts") are now in the minority. Because this time, public opinion agrees: according to a Washington Post poll, 69% of Americans believe that the death of George Floyd is the sign of a bigger problem in the treatment of blacks by the police. They were only 43% to think the same thing in 2014 at the time of the Ferguson riots.
This ideological shift was accompanied by strong symbols. In 2016, American football player Colin Kaepernick was booed for kneeling on the national anthem in protest against racism. His engagement cost him his sports career. In the past two weeks, the gesture has become widespread: police in front of the demonstrators, Democrats in Congress, and even the Democratic candidate Joe Biden have knelt to signify their rallying to the cause.
"Everyone knows who he is today"
Another symbol: the statues of enslaved generals, tagged and unbolted with flying colors in recent days, from Virginia to Alabama via Indiana. Some municipalities have gone further by responding to one of the strongest demands of the Black Lives Matter movement: to cut the police budget and redirect the money towards the fight against poverty, poor housing or mental illness. The city of Minneapolis has announced the dismantling of its police services in order to rebuild a fairer system.
George Floyd will have lived only forty-six years. But "everyone knows who he is today," observes one of his old friends, Reginald Smith, when interviewed by a local Houston newspaper. "Presidents, kings and queens, they know George Floyd. "He who wanted to change the world will have established a movement. The Americans will have to wait until November to find out if this wave of anti-racism has resulted in the polls.
