Family of George Floyd to hold funeral June 9

The funeral for George Floyd, who murdered in Minneapolis, United States last week, will be held June 9 in Houston, the family attorney, Ben Crump has announced.

We have to be united, even with Covid,” said Yousif Hussein, 29, who was planning to attend the memorial for Mr. Floyd, a black man who died last week after a white police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes during an arrest.

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“I have to show solidarity with George Floyd,” Mr. Hussein said outside the corner market in midtown Minneapolis where Mr. Floyd made his final gasps — for help, for his mother and for air, a plea that has since become a painful refrain for racial and social justice in America: “I can’t breathe.”

Mr. Floyd’s death came after a deli employee called 911, accusing him of buying cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill. A video of his last moments, as three other uniformed officers did not intervene, set off protests in dozens of cities and led to criminal charges this week against all four police officers. At least six people have died in violence connected to the protests.

On Wednesday, the Hennepin County medical examiner released Mr. Floyd’s autopsy report, which revealed that he had tested positive for the coronavirus in early April, although it gave no indication that the virus factored into his death. The news came as a gut punch, a painful reminder of how the virus has hit the black community in Minnesota, and throughout the nation, in disproportionate numbers.

The New York Times reports that Thursday’s memorial service is scheduled to take place at 1 p.m. in a large sanctuary at North Central University in Minneapolis. Other services for Mr. Floyd were planned for Saturday in Raeford, N.C., where some of his family lives, and Monday in Houston, where he lived for many years.