‘Turning mourning into dancing’: Festival to remember George Floyd

Philonise Floyd, George Floyd’s brother, looks down at Gianna Floyd, George Floyd’s daughter, while while standing with members of the Floyd family prior to a meeting to mark the anniversary of the death of George Floyd with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. (Erin Scott/Pool via AP)

The crossroads where George Floyd took his final breaths is to be transformed into an outdoor festival on the anniversary of his death, with food, children’s activities and a long list of musical performers.

“We’re going to be turning mourning into dancing,” rapper Nur-D tweeted. “We’re going to be celebrating 365 days of strength in the face of injustice.”

Mr Floyd, 46, who was black, died on Memorial Day 2020 after then-officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck, pinning him to the ground for about nine and a half minutes.

Chauvin, who is white, was convicted last month of murder and faces sentencing June 25. Three other fired officers still face trial.

The site of Mr Floyd’s death, 38th and Chicago, was taken over by activists soon after and remains barricaded to traffic. The “Rise and Remember George Floyd” celebration, including a candlelight vigil at 8pm local time on Tuesday, caps several days of marches, rallies and panel discussions about his death and where America is in confronting racial discrimination.

Many members of the Floyd family were scheduled to be in Washington DC on Tuesday, in a private meeting with president Joe Biden, who called family members after the Chauvin verdict and pledged to continue fighting for racial justice.

The Floyd family lawyer Ben Crump said he hoped Mr Biden would renew his support for policing reform named for George Floyd, which would ban chokeholds and no-knock police raids and create a national registry for officers disciplined for serious misconduct.

“Now is time to act,” Crump said Tuesday on CNN. “Not just talk but act.”

In this June 10, 2020, file photo, Philonise Floyd, a brother of George Floyd, speaks with civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, right. (Michael Reynolds/AP)

Mr Floyd’s brother Philonise, appearing alongside Mr Crump, said he thinks about George “all the time.”

“My sister called me at 12 o’clock last night and said ‘This is the day our brother left us’,” he said, adding: “I think things have changed. I think it is moving slowly but we are making progress.”

Nur-D, whose real name is Matt Allen, took to the Minneapolis streets in the days after Mr Floyd’s death, often providing medical assistance to protesters who were shot or gassed in confrontations with police. He eventually founded an organisation, Justice Frontline Aid, to support safe protest.

He described the past year as “like we’ve lived 20 years inside of one” and hoped that people would feel “honesty and a real sense of togetherness” during Tuesday’s celebration at what is informally known as George Floyd Square.

“If you’re angry, you can be angry. If you’re sad, you can be sad,” Nur-D said in a follow-up interview. “If you’re feeling some sense of joy over the verdict and some sort of like step in the right direction, and you want to celebrate that, do that as well.”

A man holds a sign at George Floyd Square, in Minneapolis, a day after former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin was convicted on all counts for the 2020 death of Floyd. The intersection where George Floyd took his final breaths was to be transforme

The event was organised by the George Floyd Global Memorial. Angela Harrelson, an aunt of Mr Floyd’s and a member of the board of directors, said the organisation has stockpiled 3,000 items surrounding his death — things like artwork left behind in the square — and will display some of them in a pop-up gallery.

Separately, the Floyd family announced the launch of a fund that will make grants to businesses and community organizations in the neighbourhood where he died, as well as broader grants “encouraging the success and growth of Black citizens and community harmony”.

The money comes from 500,000 dollars (£353,795) earmarked as part of the city’s 27-million-dollar (£19 million) civil settlement for the Floyd family earlier this year.

A crowd gathers next to the spot where George Floyd was murdered at George Floyd Square (Julio Cortez/AP)

The event at George Floyd Square was due to start at 1pm local time, the same time Governor Tim Walz asked Minnesotans to pause for a moment of silence to honour Mr Floyd.

He asked that the moment last for nine minutes, 29 seconds – the length of time that prosecutors say Chauvin had his knee on Mr Floyd’s neck.

Mr Walz’s proclamation says Chauvin’s guilty verdict was a step in the right direction, “but our work to dismantle systemic racism and discrimination has not ended. True justice for George Floyd will come only through real, systemic change to prevent acts like this from happening again — when every member of every community, no matter their race, is safe, valued, and protected.”