On Anniversary Of George Floyd's Death, NYC Takes A Knee

NEW YORK CITY — Nine minutes and 29 seconds.

A year ago Tuesday, that's how long George Floyd gasped for breath under Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin's knee. Floyd's murder launched a nationwide reckoning over racism that swept over New York City — and one that continues.

"It’s our job now to finish this mission,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

De Blasio, along with Rev. Al Sharpton, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, Rep. Adriano Espaillat, Council Member Robert Cornegy and other local leaders, all took a knee together for that 9 minute and 29 second span.

Sharpton said they wanted to drive home the point that Chauvin had his knee on Floyd's neck for that long.

“Somewhere along the way doesn’t humanity kick in and you say, ‘Wait a minute, this guy is suffering,’” he said.

Protesters across New York City planned similar actions.

Black Lives Matter protesters, along with mayoral candidate Shaun Donovan, knelt in the roadway near the Holland Tunnel at 9:29 a.m. They were arrested by a mass of NYPD officers — a potential reminder of protests a year ago that were met with a heavy-handed police response.

One of those — at Barclays Center — marked the beginning of days of violent clashes and destructive acts by some protesters. But the looting and unrest of during those early days — which played on a loop on right-wing television — gave way to largely peaceful demonstrations, with Barclays Center becoming a focal point.

On Tuesday, demonstrators planned a 5 p.m. march starting from Barclays Center.

Today we take the streets, in honor of #GeorgeFloyd, #BreonnaTaylor, and all the victims and survivors of police terror. #DefundThePolice

Join us at Atlantic-Barclays at 5PM in Brooklyn.

March w/ VOCAL: https://t.co/QnFB8eyBLi pic.twitter.com/KynzIir6NE
— VOCAL-NY (@VOCALNewYork) May 25, 2021

The march bore the hashtag "DefundThePolice" — a call that grew last spring and summer as more and more protesters were on the receiving end of forceful NYPD tactics. A Department of Investigation report later found police inflamed tensions through their tactics.

Jeffries framed police violence as a manifestation of centuries of racism.

"Systemic raicism has been in the soil of America for more than 400 years,” Jeffries said. “We’ve come a long way, but we still have a long way to go. Jim Crow may be dead, but he still has some nieces and nephews that are alive and well. And they manifest itself in terms of police violence, police brutality and police use of excessive force.”

De Blasio opened the day by highlighting police reforms — changes to a civilian complaint board, strong police discipline rules, and more — that were enacted after Floyd's murder and the protests. Many advocates say they don't go far enough, and de Blasio himself broadly agreed.

"A year later we have to ensure that we remember George Floyd in action every day in this city," he said. "More reforms to be done, more work to be done in our country. Profound change needed, but it can be done."