George Floyd Was Murdered 2 Years Ago: What Has, Hasn't Changed In NYC

NEW YORK CITY — As a police officer pressed his knee on his neck, George Floyd gasped, "I can't breathe." On the two-year anniversary of those fateful words Wednesday, New York City marked his murder with barely a whisper.

The mass protests that gripped the city for several heated weeks in 2020 didn't return. A smattering of public officials and advocates issued solemn statements, but the movement for larger police and racial justice reforms appears at risk of stalling.

"It's difficult to find hope right now but honoring his life means carrying on the fight against racist violence," tweeted city Comptroller Brad Lander.

The muted response by public officials is likely because they were focused on another tragedy — the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 children and two adults dead.

Mayor Eric Adams spent his morning reacting to the shooting. And the official action Adams took relating to Floyd, at least as of Wednesday afternoon, was meeting with Floyd's family behind closed doors the day before.

But, arguably, Adams' response also represents a shift among many New Yorkers away from the issues of racial justice and police brutality that brought them onto the streets starting May 28, 2020, after video emerged of Floyd dying under former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin's knee.

Demonstrators then called to defund the NYPD, but two years later the department's nearly $6 billion budget has increased.

A wave of brutal crackdowns on protesters then prompted numerous investigations, but so far only a handful of NYPD officers have been disciplined.

Lawmakers after Floyd's death passed bills that opened up police transparency and restricted law enforcement from using chokeholds. Those remain on the books — and have even been restored to their full strength — but pro-police unions have been angling for their rollback.

But momentum for police reforms seems to have largely shifted toward addressing gun violence in the city.

Adams has echoed advocates who argue the problem must be addressed with social and community programs and outreach, but he spends much of his focus on expanding police in New Yorkers' daily lives.

NYPD officers have returned to subways and restarted "broken windows" policing of quality of life offenses under Adams. The mayor has also forcefully pushed for rollbacks on bail reforms that advocates argue are not only unconnected to an uptick in crime, but also disproportionately affect Black and Brown New Yorkers.

And Adams on Wednesday hinted that greater security measures could be coming to the city's schools as guns continue to turn up inside their classrooms and hallways.

Attorneys with the Legal Aid Society, in their statement marking the anniversary of Floyd's murder, condemned Adams' policies.

"New York City has experienced the resurgence of antiquated, biased and ineffective policing practices, and the rollback of critical pretrial reforms, all while feeding a mass incarceration machine that has failed to make our communities safer, or protect the best interests of our clients," their statement reads.