America remembers George Floyd

Cedric Richmond, senior adviser to President Biden, said there is no new timetable from the White House on police reform legislation, but said he is optimistic over the state of the negotiations.

Richmond said the administration is “doing everything we can” to get legislation passed including offering any advice or technical assistance asked of it.

Richmond said there is not a new timeline from the White House on passing police reform, after the original deadline of today came and went without a bill, and that the President wants something that is right, not rushed. 

“It’s more important to have meaningful legislation than to meet a deadline or a timeline and I think that that came out today in the conversation with the family, that the President wanted something that is right, not necessarily rushed,” he said. 

Richmond would not discuss the negotiations over qualified immunity during the interview, saying those negotiations have been going on behind the scenes and that’s where they should stay. 

Vice President Kamala Harris spoke about her meeting with the family of George Floyd at the White House on Tuesday, saying “they have shown such dignity in the face of such an atrocious tragedy.”

“In their grief, they are so generous in the way that they have been supporting other families and supporting a system that should rightly yield in the face of injustice to what we know needs to be reformed,” she added.

The vice president said she is in awe of their continuing courage, their selflessness and the way they have approached this.

Harris also echoed her written statement after the meeting with Floyd’s family, saying “George Floyd should be alive today.”

She said the administration is watching and waiting to see what comes from the negotiations on police reform on Capitol Hill.

“The work that they have been doing has been I think intensive work throughout the weekends,” Harris said. “So they’re working around the clock from everything I can see and we’re waiting to hear but there seems to be a sense of optimism coming from the Hill and that gives me a sense of optimism and we’ll wait and see."

Benjamin Crump, the attorney of George Floyd's family, said GOP Sen. Tim Scott told him any policing overhaul bill will be named the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. 

Crump and the Floyd family spoke with reporters following their meeting with Democratic Sen. Cory Booker. 

When asked earlier by reporters if they’re optimistic about a police reform deal getting done, Crump gave them a thumbs up.

Darnella Frazier, the teenager who was on her way to a Minneapolis store to buy snacks with her young cousin last May 25 when she recorded the clearest video of former police officer Derek Chauvin pressing his knee into George Floyd’s neck for over nine minutes, released a statement on Tuesday to mark the one-year anniversary of Floyd’s death.

“A year ago, today I witnessed a murder. The victim’s name was George Floyd. Although this wasn’t the first time, I’ve seen a Black man get killed at the hands of the police, this is the first time I witnessed it happen in front of me. Right in front of my eyes, a few feet away,” Frazier said in a statement to CNN.

Frazier’s video of Floyd’s final moments was widely credited for helping secure a guilty verdict against Chauvin, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz publicly thanked her after the trial.

"Taking that video, I think many folks know, is maybe the only reason that Derek Chauvin will go to prison," Walz said last month.

“A lot of people call me a hero even though I don’t see myself as one. I was just in the right place at the right time,” Frazier said Tuesday.

“Behind this smile, behind these awards, behind the publicity, I’m a girl trying to heal from something I am reminded of every day. Everyone talks about the girl who recorded George Floyd‘s death, but to actually be her is a different story,” Frazier added.

Frazier, now 18, said her life was forever changed by that moment, and she spoke about the challenges she and her family have faced in the year since she witnessed Floyd’s death, adding that she’s suffered from sleeplessness, anxiety and panic attacks in the aftermath.

“I used to shake so bad at night my mom had to rock me to sleep. Hopping from hotel to hotel because we didn’t have a home and looking over our back every day in the process,” the statement read.

As the sports world came together to pay their respects to George Floyd after his death in Minnesota a year ago, many organizations are also speaking out on the anniversary of his killing on Tuesday.

Floyd's death sparked nationwide protests, with many prominent athletes and teams participating in advocacy and demonstrations.

The Women's National Basketball Players Association released a statement on the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act – a bill that would do things like set up a national registry of police misconduct, ban chokeholds and no-knock warrants and make it easier to prosecute officers for wrongdoing, among other things.

The WNBPA said in a statement it remains hopeful and that the measure is an "important first step for comprehensive policing reform."

"Excessive force used against communities of color is past crisis-level. Excessive force used against communities of color demands action by Congress," the statement said.

The National Basketball Players Association tweeted, "How many more need to be killed before Congress takes action?" It urged people to call their senators and tell them to support the bill.

The NBA said a year ago Floyd's death inspired a social justice movement and called on people to rally against systemic racism, it said in a tweet.

"Today and every day, members of the NBA family stand united in working for change and a future that provides true equality," the NBA said.

Several high-profile NBA athletes were vocal about the killing of Floyd.

Professional teams in Minnesota – including the Vikings, the Timberwolves, the Lynx, the Wild and Minnesota United – all tweeted messages in Floyd's memory. Several of them were photos of memorials or murals around the city.

The Players Alliance, the Major League Baseball players group, tweeted a statement pledging to create a more "inclusive, equitable future – both in our game and in our world."

The NFL said it has been a year filled with "reflection and reckoning, one that has renewed our commitment to build and strengthen our communities."

It also tweeted a video which featured players talking about how Floyd's murder affected them.

You can watch that here:

After meeting with GOP Sens. Tim Scott and Lindsey Graham, Benjamin Crump, the attorney of George Floyd's family, said “we’re optimistic” that Congress is “close, the closest they’ve ever been” to reaching a bipartisan agreement on a policing reform bill.

Scott told CNN on Tuesday after the meeting that he felt the Floyd family was very receptive to all the parts of the bill they discussed.

“I was pleasantly surprised and encouraged by their thoughts,” Scott said, adding, “I wish I was negotiating with them."

One year ago today, George Floyd was killed by a police officer in Minneapolis. His death sparked global protests against police brutality.

Today, as his family continues to mourn his death, activists and communities around the country march and pay tribute to the man who became a symbol for racial justice.

CNN’s Omar Jimenez was live from Minneapolis and answered your questions.

Watch:

Today marks the one-year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd. 

In today's episode of CNN Political Briefing podcast, CNN Correspondent Omar Jimenez walks us through how the communities in Minnesota — and the country at large — are still grappling with the grief, the necessary changes to come, and what change community leaders are hoping for when it comes to reform.  

You can listen here.

Vice President Kamala Harris urged Congress to "act with a sense of urgency" to pass police reform legislation in a statement released today.

Like President Biden, she said more needs to be done to address racial injustice. Earlier this afternoon, Harris and Biden met with the family of George Floyd on the anniversary of his death to discuss police reform.

Harris said that the video of Floyd’s death one year ago “revealed to the country what Black Americans have known to be true for generations.”

“The verdict finding Derek Chauvin guilty of murder provided some measure of justice. But one verdict does not address the persistent issue of police misconduct and use of excessive force. It does not take away the Floyd family’s pain, nor the pain of all those families who have grieved the untimely loss of a loved one,” Harris wrote.