A year since George Floyd’s murder, Americans reflect on his legacy

Americans on Tuesday will mark the first anniversary of the murder of George Floyd beneath a white Minneapolis police officer’s knee, which catalyzed the largest U.S. protest movement in decades over police brutality against Black people.

In Washington, President Joe Biden will meet privately with members of Floyd's family at the White House, not far from where promised police reform legislation in Floyd's name has stalled in the U.S. Congress.

In Minneapolis, a foundation created in Floyd's memory by some in his family has organized an afternoon of music and food in a park near the downtown courtroom where Derek Chauvin, the former officer, was found guilty last month of murdering Floyd at a landmark trial in U.S. policing. read more

Chauvin, 45, faces up to 40 years in prison when he is sentenced on June 25. The three other officers at the scene have pleaded not guilty to aiding and abetting Chauvin, and will go on trial next year. The Minneapolis Police Department fired all four officers the day after Floyd was killed.

Later on Tuesday, mourners will gather for a candlelight vigil at the stretch of road where Chauvin knelt on the neck of a handcuffed Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man in handcuffs, for more than nine minutes.

Darnella Frazier, a teenage bystander, recorded the killing on her cellphone, uploading video to Facebook that horrified people around the world. Floyd had been suspected of using a counterfeit $20 bill to buy cigarettes.

People poured into the streets of cities across the United States and around the world demanding the overhaul or even the abolition of police departments that disproportionately used violence against African Americans.

All 50 states and the District of Columbia have since introduced legislation to increase the accountability or oversight of police, and 24 states have enacted new laws, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.