Rev. Al Sharpton speaks on George Floyd's death: "We must act in a way to get justice"
Reverend Al Sharpton spoke Thursday about the death of George Floyd, saying, "We must act in a way to get justice, and to get fairness."
"We're not asking for a favor," he said. "We're asking for what is right."
He said there will be a call on Saturday for people nationwide to be part of the "We can't breathe" movement.
Sharpton spoke at the site where Floyd, a black man who died after being detained by police, was arrested in Minneapolis.
A now-infamous video of Floyd's arrest shows officer Derek Chauvin using his knee to pin him by his neck as he pleaded for help. Floyd repeatedly said "I can't breathe," the same phrase said by Eric Garner before he died in 2014 after an NYPD officer held him in a chokehold.
"I can't breathe" became a national rallying cry against police brutality following Garner's death.
Sharpton, a civil rights leader and Baptist minister, said Thursday that if they had prosecuted the officer in that case maybe Floyd would be alive today.
"We're gonna make sure that this prosecution goes down so we're not somewhere five years from now saying they should have prosecuted ... in the Floyd case," he said.
Sharpton spoke on the topic of police violence against African-Americans after Garner's deaths. Following Floyd's death, Sharpton said he held a private conversation with Floyd's family and Garner's mother, Gwen Carr, CBS Minnesota reports. The call, he said on Twitter, was initiated by civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Floyd's family.
"I feel the pain and hurt from George's family and my whole heart goes out to them," said Carr. "As I was talking to them, I relived what happened to Eric and tears overwhelmed me."
Carr spoke on Thursday alongside Sharpton.
"This is just opening up an old wound, pouring salt into it," she said.
"The police officers come into our neighborhoods," she said. "They brutalize, they terrorize, they murder our children, and we have done nothing."
