HOUSTON — Hundreds showed up for a candlelight vigil Monday honoring George Floyd at Jack Yates High School in Houston’s Third Ward. Floyd was a graduate of the high school and a respected athlete.
“How could God pick a poor dude out of Cuney Homes? And he changed the world,” said one of his former high school teammates.
Floyd’s brothers spoke of his memory and social change through ground-level community action.
“We have good police and we have bad police,” one of Floyd’s brothers said. “They can’t figure it out so we have to sort it out ourselves.”
Floyd’s other brother requested attendees continue to carry the message of equal civil rights once the media coverage ends.
“We’re coming together around the world, we’re being treated like we’re one-third of a human being,” Floyd’s brother said. “There’s cameras out here. We have to keep this energy going when these cameras are gone.”
As the sun set on the hundreds in the crowd, flames were passed from neighbor to neighbor, leaving a sea of candles in the air.
Floyd’s neck was pinned by the knee of a Minneapolis Police Department officer for exactly eight minutes and 46 seconds. At exactly 8:46 p.m. the crowd went silent in prayer.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo declared Tuesday, June 9, 2020, as George Floyd Day; the same day he will be buried in Houston.
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