After a highly symbolic meeting with President Joe Biden, a year after the African-American 40-year-old died below the knee of a white police officer, George Floyd's family on Tuesday called on the US Congress to "protect people of color" by passing a law to reform the police.
The family of George Floyd on Tuesday called on the US Congress to "protect people of color" by passing a law to reform the police, after a highly symbolic meeting with President Joe Biden a year after the death of the African-American 40-year-old under the knee of a white policeman.
"If you can make federal law to protect a bird, the bald eagle, you can make federal law to protect people of color," said one of his brothers, Philonise Floyd, referring to the eagle mascot of the United States.
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"A year ago, today, I witnessed a murder"
Joe Biden "wants the law to be fair, to make sense, and to keep George's legacy intact," said George Floyd's nephew, Brandon Williams.
But the text supported by the president and already voted by the lower house remains blocked in the Senate.
To conclude this historic visit, the family raised their fists and chanted the name of George Floyd, who has become the symbol of victims of police violence in the United States since his death on May 25, 2020 in Minneapolis during his arrest by four police officers.
His agony, filmed live, provoked an unprecedented mobilization;
his plea ("I can't breathe anymore") turned into a rallying cry against the abuses of the police.
"A year ago, today, I witnessed a murder," Darnella Frazier, the teenager who filmed the murder, wrote in a Facebook post, providing crucial evidence that led to the conviction by Derek Chauvin.
"I knew he was in pain. I knew he was another black man in danger and without power," she added.
"My video didn't save George Floyd, but it put his killer in jail and off the streets."
Police officer Derek Chauvin, who knelt on his neck for nearly ten minutes, was convicted of murder.
His sentence will be announced on June 25.
When leaving the White House for a brief visit to his stronghold in Wilmington (Delaware), Joe Biden said he was "optimistic" about the possibility of reaching an agreement in the Senate on a bill soon.
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"Extraordinary courage"
The president had previously praised the "extraordinary courage" of those close to George Floyd, who have become the spokespersons in the fight against police abuse and the defenders of a great law bearing his name, which should bring about profound changes in the police force.
Using the words of George Floyd's daughter, Gianna, who repeats that her father "changed the world", Joe Biden assured: "He did it".
The Floyd family had previously met the Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, on Capitol Hill.
George Floyd's relatives then met with two senators, Democrat Cory Booker and Republican Tim Scott.
But if a consensus seems to emerge between the two camps, the discussions stumble on certain details of the text.
"There are two justices in the United States"
The family met later on the "Black Lives Matter Plaza", which has become a place of rallying and memory in the American capital.
"There are two justice systems in the United States, we must unite and correct this situation," said Philonise Floyd.
"I will do whatever I have to do" so that this law is passed, he insisted.
During his first major speech to Congress at the end of April, Joe Biden called on elected officials to adopt the "George Floyd Justice in Policing Act" by the first anniversary of his death.
"The timetable for the passage of the law will not be kept," admitted White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki.
The text voted in March by the House of Representatives notably provides for the prohibition of strangulation and aims to limit the broad immunity ("qualified immunity") enjoyed by American police officers.
This modification is the hard point of the negotiations, the Republicans posing as defenders of the legal protections of the police.
Elected on the image of a man of dialogue, capable of finding compromises with the Republicans, Joe Biden, who was a long time senator, knows that he plays a large part of his political capital on this issue.