It was a sombre moment when mourners from different parts of the United States gathered in North Carolina to pay their last respects to George Floyd.
Floyd was killed on May 25, 2020 by Officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis after the latter kept his knee on the back of Floyd’s neck for over eight minutes.
The memorial service and public viewing took place on Saturday, June 6, 2020, at the Cape Fear Conference B Church in Raeford.
George Floyd was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina and brought up in the Third Ward of Houston, Texas.
The News and Observer report that hundreds assembled at the conference center to honor Floyd, with some of them arriving before dawn.
The corpse was escorted into the church in a gold casket as people lined up outside.
A few days ago, a statement posted on Facebook by Hoke County Sheriff Hubert Peterkin enjoined attendees not to engage in any form of protest.
He wrote:
I’m asking on behalf of the Floyd family for those who plan on attending the viewing/memorial service to be respectful to the sensitivity of the family’s time of grief.
The memorial is about the life that Mr. George Floyd lived and this is a time to embrace the family with expressions of love and kindness.”
A private viewing for Floyd’s family was held at 3 pm local time and during the service, his casket was taken down the aisle while the choir sang the hymn, I Shall Wear A Crown.
