or how to talk to or at least begin a conversation about the particularities of discrimination in their own countries neon because of an assistant professor of political science at howard university thank you for speaking to us again. well now let's go back to our correspondent john hendren here is standing outside the fountain of praise church in houston texas where that sadness for george point is currently being held john obviously a very somber day today but also a day as we've been saying to celebrate george floyd's life took us through what we can expect over the next few hours. well this is the program that they've been handing out and the number of items on it is really impressive there are members of congress speaking 2 of them the mayor of houston issues to police chief is attending that their money and was out here just a little while ago and then you've got the vice president of the united states giving

a videotaped message and the only reason he's not here in person we're told is that the family was concerned that the security arrangements for him might be disruptive so you got 500 people in there listening to this hundreds more outside and there have been thousands filing past the casket of george ford and this is really the 4th of 4 ceremonies there was a ceremony in minneapolis one in north carolina where he was born a viewing yesterday and today it's really the denouement the funeral after which he will be buried next to his mother and before that we are one hour into a 3 hour service where you are and singing and reading and remembrances from the family it is really 2 themes going on here one we're hearing about george floyd been then. a gentle kind spirit according to those who knew him well and the other is this movement that he set off there will be a montage of democrats. demonstrations across the country as part of that program

and there will be a call out this is my conjecture by the reverend al sharpton and i can guess that because he's done that at every other possible occasion saying he wants to turn this moment into a movement and continue the protests the peaceful protests that have been going on across the united states you will hear a little more about george floyd we'll hear some music it will be a very religious ceremony and then we'll also hear a call out for action. indeed and john hendren there for us outside that funeral service and houston texas well let's now take you inside the fountain of praise chants where reverend dr mary white is currently having a prayer of come things that's missing in a moment of prayer. let's talk to god and find out the. strengths my hey.

you lie no and god if you withdraw yourself from the. way i. think now that you let them out of the creation of the sovereign god. that is what i have then. but yes that bats right then right by. god or god. we welcome your presence that's our reading of this. master we thank you for this celebration we thank you for the life of joy it's oh i don't got that at a moment when he called out for his momma we believe that my. dear let me let my from this. dance where. we began to her friends to. me in the form of this world because of what i was proud of thank you thank you

about today. god thank you for what you're doing in this place we thank you i ask if you would it matter on us oh god oh when tons of faith my father because cloven trunk fire decree and declare and proclaim rights but fiery tongues come out in anger ignited enough that. right now we're in a strange land i never. trained slanted eyes because i know praying. i know. god and what god is about. when we have to make an hour for us to have to be with that brother then i see. that it could be him that sounds better but it's not become law mandated god help

me god but they got it right for the family of george wright who is time after time after time again by private grief and public places but i remember you said you. are right now i want to carry him in and to get him in the neighborhood. by emmet out in the field by your elbow that thing might get. this out but that child that remember this shall be have to everybody is gonna come . and they said this is our ip when we can we do train with the claim there right now so i got gas. right there shall be your friend that you know. that this time of sorrow under her puts her arms around him oh god let him know that my god is that my god is the comforter and about how things we celebrate we

will remember these days and following god god will come with. change. and sunny days. and. well you've been listening to dr dr mary right right reverend dr mary white offering a prayer of comfort we've been hearing from a number of different reverends here's a day at the sound of praise church in houston. as we've been saying george floyd was very much a very religious man he turned to the church when he returned to shoot from many well when he returned to houston from university and before moving to minneapolis

and even when he was in minneapolis he was also involved there and with a homeless shelter for the salvation army so he did find that. in his life in his roommates even talk about him having kept a bible by his bed and very regularly praying he was also very involved with helping young men in the church particularly ones who needed help with drug rehabilitation as well as trying to find jobs now the church was very important to him. i believe that he was involved in a church in houston which actually used to host who hold their services in the middle of a basketball court and told floyd of course was a very very strong athlete that was how he ended up on a sports scholarship heading to a community college now today is very much a day where as we've been hearing is a time to celebrate george freud's life as well as to push for change he was

also a bit of a musician he was a rapper for a period of time called big floyd when he returned to houston we will be hearing i believe what we're seeing some of his previous performances today and we will also be hearing as our correspondent john hendren has been saying to well from a number of very senior political figures and clearing democratic presidential hopeful joe biden as well as some congressman but joe biden will not. the president will be hearing from him in a video message but he did go and physically neet with george floyd's family on monday night in houston ahead of this service. clearly it's a day not only for mourning and for grieving but also for thinking about how things might change in the united states and at that point i'd like to bring in assistant

professor of political science at howard university because i he's been speaking to us throughout this morning she's also the author of american while black african-americans immigration and the limits of citizenship she's speaking to us from washington d.c. let's talk a little bit about georgia for its life and he lived in this neighborhood nicknamed the bricks in houston relatively poverty stricken there were issues with with drugs and crime and gangs there but he got the sports scholarship he didn't finish his degree he went home and then also ended up in prison on 2 occasions including a 4 year stint for aggravated robbery and then he tried to turn his life around that's not a rare story what can be addressed here in terms of what i mean surely this this paints a picture of what life is like for a large number of people who are struggling with very similar issues in the united states. unfortunately it's not a rare occurrence and i think this is where the defund police conversation becomes

really important because part of what those communities of activists and others are talking about is how we allocate resources in this country that there is something wrong when people have you know more police than they do rec centers for example and those are things that we know actually work to keep young people like mr floyd and one point that you know off the streets and out of trouble that you have to give people options if we think about youth unemployment right we know that jobs programs for those communities are really important and so what these people are talking about when they're saying to fund police is not just abolish the police though there are some who feel that way what they're saying is we should look at budgets and think about our budgets as ethical engagements with our public that we serve and so what we're saying when we put more resources worth is resources excuse me into police departments then we do social welfare and other kinds of things that

we actually value order over then the more then the fallout of people and now we have police doing things that they're not equipped to do like deal with. mental health issues and deal with you know really what are social problems i mean a crime is anything it's a symptom of a lot of problems so if you have someone who's committing a crime particularly as a young person there is something else that's happening and what these activists are trying to get to is the root of that so people are doing things like selling drugs maybe it's because they don't have viable employment in the opportunities we know their education end of poor education is the likely cause or contributing factor to people being engaged with the criminal justice system at some point in their life so we know that we have core educational outcomes and that educating actuals a well and the fact that we can buy guns for apple. but we can't provide supplies for our schools tells us something is wrong and so i think this moment when we talk

about the missteps that mr floyd had in his life you know the only reason that conversation is relevant is though we can say that you know many people could have the life that mr floyd with now enjoy as an older person at a different point in their life when they were much younger if they didn't have to go to these days because we actually had the community provided an alternative namby stay with me come back to this discussion a little in a moment but i do want to take us back now to the chants and listen in on what we're hearing the resolution is i believe being read by i think rather she i think went to school with george we stand fast in our faith that we'll give you their braces to rob you and every leaning side made you feel the closeness of his comfort and the warmth of his presence as you cope with this heart rendering transition we

are praying for you we are interceding on your behalf and want each of you to know that our love extends to you from houston to all parts of the world to assure reader tate a spiritual daughter of this house our family members and all of the family members we await the joy that comes in the morning after the weeping season the bible says that our god will wipe away all tears from your eyes and saw your sorrow shelby's swallowed up in joy this is given and behalf of pastors remus and me a right. in his own way and for his own purposes god has reached down into his garden to pluck one of his fairest flowers god called the spirits of our

dearly beloved brother george came to be with him throughout eternity whereas you've been listening to ivy mcgregor they're giving the resolutions which is about a 3rd of the way through the funeral program for george showing his the fountain. in houston but now let's go to our correspondent who's in minneapolis minnesota where george floyd died and how sure i can see all of the federal tributes behind you and a small crowd that's gathered how are they marking the day today. it's been a subdued start to the day as you can see the crowd just keeps growing i'm seeing a lot of parents with small children walking around explaining to their children what they're seeing this is a several block radius of a tribute that has been in place for the 2 since the 2 weeks that george floyd was killed i spoke to one woman an african-american woman who says she is at

a loss as to what to say today she says that she was here the night that george floyd was killed in police custody she says she walked out of her church and saw that he was in the squad car she and her husband thought that was the end of it they drove off and then a couple minutes later another member of their church called her and said quote they killed him other people are saying yes this is a fad and somber day but one woman says she's been very uplifted by what she's seen in the neighborhood in the last few weeks the outpouring of grief but also a lot of unity she says that in many respects what we're seeing here has become a high. and of sanctuary and in fact i was told that last evening someone was baptized here in front of the food where floyd died so again it's subdued for sure and people are clearly wanting to come to bear witness taking

pictures talking quietly amongst themselves briefly someone tried to get some chants going of sage or his name george floyd that didn't last too long because i think people here recognize the solemnity of today natasha going to for us on the streets of minneapolis thank you very much tasha 1 well now let's go to washington d.c. and speech white house correspondent kimberly how has kimberly it's been a very somber occasion so well both and euston and in minneapolis on this day one of we've been hearing from the white house this morning. well it's been quiet here in washington d.c. not a lot of noise from protesters of we as we've had since the death of george floyd the u.s. president for his part has a cleared schedule but he has been tweeting and many people consider that maybe one of the tweets was somewhat tone deaf in terms of its timing the u.s.

president suggesting that one of the protesters earlier in the week who was in buffalo new york was pushed down by police and it was captured on video much like the death of george floyd although this man has survived a 75 year old protester that the u.s. president suggesting that this may have been a stage fall that the man could be a member of n t has really outraged many americans including the governor of new york who has this comment a moment of anger anguish if there was ever a moment the president term should feel decency he should apologize for that because it's wholly unacceptable and he believes the comments he said are reckless irresponsible and cruel so this is coming at a time when the nation is watching television sets collectively and looking at the funeral and the outpouring of grief for the family many people wondering why the president might be motivated to put out a tweet like that at this time but that is what he has done and he's also looking

ahead to campaigning in the midst of the poll numbers for this president which have plummeted since the unrest that has occurred across the nation it appears the u.s. president eager to get back out on the campaign trail we understand that are number of locations are being floated as perhaps the u.s. president restless being in the white house much like americans who have been stuck in their homes for coronavirus now we understand planning in the coming days and weeks to decide whether or not those make america great again rallies will continue . we've also seen his approval ratings take a bit of a dip not only because of the current virus pandemic but also because of the response to the protests and the deployment of the military that we've seen over the last in all little while he's also been taking aim at joe biden how's that all been going. oh well. this is the beginning of a very long election campaign where he'll be doing a lot of that now that joe biden is the presumptive democratic presidential nominee

and we've really seen 2 different responses in terms of these 2 candidates in how they believe it's time to address the death of george floyd well 1 the u.s. president has acknowledged publicly that he believes there are some problems in police departments they he believes they're isolated incidents and that there's no need for reform there's in sort of a grand scale that really these are good people and there is no systemic racism now the. democratic presidential nominee joe biden feels differently he's not calling for a disbanding of police says we've seen some activists calling for within his party but he is calling for major reform so there really seem to be 2 different points of view now it is also notable that the u.s. president is here during this funeral whereas joe biden not only met with the family yesterday but he all of george floyd but also we understand is sending some sort of a video message as well just in some way participate in this now there have been

accusations that joe biden himself might be capitalizing on this for politics or a lot of accusations right now when the nation is trying to focus on healing. at that white house correspondent thank you very much candy well now let's take you back to that child in houston and have a listen there's another musical in to use as part of the staff. and you don't. feel. safe. when your. pain. so.

low. that. good. luck. to you.

i. mean. i. miss. you. you. know. what. to. do.

good. to. see you. good. to. see. you this is. to see.

to. see won't. be to. see the. kids. call. to. say. see. you. we'll. see. you. she. she. did.

say. the. least. i. a. well you've been listening to kathy taylor saying how precious. a lot of music today in this funeral. you know that's continue having a lesson has come to more music to common we will be hearing all star from

a number of very senior class her fans but let's listen to the end of the song. to . say. she. liked the free. way. she. should leave. she told. us. from. the.

start oh. oh. god. foam. was. a. but god.

and. he. was a. he. was. the age. with us.

this is the promise i will leave. the. game and if you feel the right. to leave. the. room.

if you can't right now see that with me. the 3rd frame. there live. i tell her all the time she is houston's modern day but hell you jacks. man she empties churches all across the country they're annoyed to him at this time we're honored to have our dignitaries speaking just before i asked them to come the names that are on program i want to ask all of the people the political dignitaries that we have and use and i would ask you to stand this for a moment. i saw commissioner rodney ellison so many others she doesn't need oh yes

yes yes foreman bad knees parker and so many others that us thank god for your service right now 8 regards to the mission each and every one at this time the program calls for a video by vice president joe biden and then we will hear from our own congressman al green than our own congresswoman sheila jackson lee and then finally the mayor of this fine city mayor sylvester turn in that on godless. lower here on this prayer were you trying to understand god's plan are paid. to george's family and friends gentlemen i know the deep hole in your hearts. so. deep in the surface. as i said to you privately we know. we know you will never feel the same because. most people the numbers you feel now

slowly turn day after day season after season in your purpose in the memory of the last. few. days come before you can fully grief in the light most you must grieve in public. as burden. a burden that is now your purposed cheez the world for the better named george. and so many others i have watched with offers you some of the absolute courage to channels god's grace and show the good man george was. search to stir justice to long to move millions to act peacefully the purpose of them are all the people around the world feel connected to this tragedy. the ones who lost something it can never ever be replaced. in george's children. and. those yana. said what do you want to study yesterday is so great

that he's looking down he's so proud of you. i know you miss that only he can give . your joy. shoulders so you can touch the sky countless hours he's spent playing any game you want because your smile your laugh your love is only thing that matters. you know you have a lot of questions. no child should have to ask questions too many black children have had to ask for generations. i stand. looking through your eyes we should also be asking ourselves why he answers so often to cruel complaints . why in his nation too many black americans wake up knowing that they could lose their life in the course of just living the. widest.