MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) – Prominent civil rights activist the Rev. Al Sharpton told mourners on Thursday George Floyd’s fatal encounter with police and the nationwide protests his death ignited marked a reckoning for America over race and justice, demanding, “Get your knee off our necks.”
Memorial tributes to Floyd in Minneapolis, where he was killed on May 25, and in New York City’s borough of Brooklyn, a major flashpoint for demonstrations stirred by his death, came as protesters returned to the streets of several U.S. cities for a 10th straight day, including Atlanta, Washington D.C., Denver, Detroit and Los Angeles.
The gatherings, while boisterous at times, were for the most part orderly, in contrast to several previous nights punctuated by sporadic arson, looting and clashes between protesters and police.
The change in mood reflected a determination voiced by many protesters and organizers in recent days to transform outrage over Floyd’s death into a renewed civil rights movement, seeking reforms to America’s criminal justice system.
“This is a very seismic moment, and someday I’m going to have a kid, and he or she or they are going to ask me what I did during the uprising of 2020, during the American spring,” said Nana Mensah, a writer in her 30s from Brooklyn.
She held a sign that read: “You’re lucky we just want equality and not revenge.”
In the nation’s capital, hundreds if not thousands assembled for a rally at the Lincoln Memorial, many sitting on the ground listening to speakers and chanting, “Say his name – George Floyd,” before an evening thunderstorm dispersed the crowd.
Another group of protester