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George Floyd’s brother urges UN to probe police killings of black Americans
GENEVA, June 17, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – The brother of George Floyd
called on the United Nations on Wednesday to set up an independent
commission to investigate the killings of African Americans by police.
“I am my brother’s keeper,” said Philonise Floyd, whose brother was
killed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25 by a white police officer
who knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
“That could have been me,” Floyd told an urgent debate on racism and
police brutality called at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
“You, at the United Nations, are your brothers and sisters keepers
in America, and you have the power to help us get justice for my
brother… I’m asking you to help him,” Floyd said in an emotional
video message.
“I’m asking you to help me. I’m asking you to help us black people
in America. I hope that you will consider establishing an independent
commission of inquiry to investigate police killings of black people
in America, and the violence against peaceful protesters.”
Floyd’s death sparked a wave of nationwide protests in the United
States and beyond for racial justice and police reform.
His brother denounced police crackdowns on demonstrators.
“When people dared to raise their voice and protest for my brother
they were tear-gassed, run over with police vehicles,” he said.
Several people had lost eyes and suffered brain damage from rubber
bullets, Floyd told the council.
“When people raise their voices to protest the treatment of black
people in America they are silenced. They are shot and killed,” he
added.
Floyd said his brother “is one of the many black men and women that
have been murdered by police.
“The sad truth is that the case is not unique,” he said. “The way
you saw my brother tortured and murdered on camera is the way black
people are treated by police in America.”
BSS/AFP/MRU/2111hrs