He was laid to rest this afternoon next to his mother. In the city where he grew up. Mr. Floyds casket remained open today during the service. In a way that has had people calling back to the funeral for emmett till who, of course, was the 14yearold who was brutally lynched and murdered in 1955 at his funeral more than 50 years ago, emmett tills mother famously demanded that the casket be left open deliberately so everyone could see what the killers had done to her son. It was a private Service Today for george floyd. Mourners who could not attend instead lined the streets outside waiting for his funeral procession to drive by. Holding signs that said rest in peace. George floyd had five kids. He had siblings. Aunts and uncles. He had cousins. He had a niece. The arrival of his family today for his funeral was a painful reminder of who he left behind. They were all dressed in white so it was easy to see who they all were in the crowd. Today George Floyds family spoke about his life, not just about those last nearly nine minutes when he died. They talked about how they called him perry, which was his middle now. How they called him their superman, their protective umbrella, and they talked about getting justice for his death. Hello. My name is brooke williams. George floyds niece. And i can breathe. As long as im breathing, justice will be served for perry. The officer showed no remorse while watching my uncles soul leave his body. He begged and pleaded many times just for you to get up, but you just pushed harder. Why must the system be corrupt and broken . Laws were already put in place for the africanamerican system to fail. These laws need to be changed. No more hate crimes, please. Someone said make America Great m again, but when has america ever been great . My little brother, my little brother was a friend, he was a mentor. He was a father. He was a basketball player. He was a football player. But most of all, he was a human being. When the came to me and asked me, did you go speak . I will speak, i will keep on speaking, i will fight, i will fight, i will fight because ive been fighting for him and i will keep on fighting for him. Those men that stood on my brothers neck changed the world. They took somebody from us that was great. When i say great, i never heard him complain, not one time. He was an umbrella to all of us. He was 66. Any rain came our way, he made sure that he could cover it for us. From the Community Home to jake yates high, he was everybodys shelter. Everybodys shelter. George floyd, 66, human umbrella, he said he was everybodys shelter. At mr. Floyds funeral today in houston, there were speeches from members of congress and from the mayor of houston. Who announce that he would be leaving the funeral to go sign Police Reform legislation for the city of houston. Former Vice President joe biden gave a speech by video after meeting with the floyd family yesterday. It talked about the burden of grief. Then there was the reverend al sharpton who delivered a rousing, raw, emotional eulogy for mr. Floyd. In the crowd today were the mothers and sisters and family members of other africanamericans who have been killed by police. Reverend sharpton asked them all to stand up. Please stand. The mother of the mother of eric garner, will you stand . The sister of botham jean, will you stand . To stand today to be recognized at this funeral because of what they have been through before and what the floyd family is going through now. The size and the scope and the volume level of the National Response to what happened to george floyd is another testament to that. If you had any idea all of us would react, youd have took your knee off his neck. If you had any idea that everybody from those in the third ward to those in hollywood would show up in houston and minneapolis and in fayetteville, north carolina, youd have took your knee off his neck. If you had any idea that preachers, white and black, was going to line up in a pandemic when were told to stay inside and we come out in march in the streets at the risk of our health, youd have took your knee off his neck. Because you thought his neck didnt mean nothing. But god made his neck to connect his head to his body, and you have no right to put your knee on that neck. After this emotional funeral today, george floyd was brought to his final resting place to be buried next to his mother. He was brought there in a horse draurn carriage. Supporters, again, lining the road on either side. And yet, still, 15 days after he was killed in every corner of the country there are still protests in the streets. This was new york. And washington, d. C. And los angeles. And minneapolis today. Protests ongoing this evening. Weve got, i believe, live pictures from both denver and phoenix right now, where things are still going on. Its been an incredible day, an emotional day. And simultaneous to that, one of the other things we watched all day today was another way to measure the health of our country and our democracy today. And that was the utterly predictable, absolutely terrible situation when it came to people of all races, but particularly black people today trying to vote in the great state of georgia. You may have seen some of the headlines about this in the National Press today. I want to show you some coverage from georgiabased reporter blayne alexander for nbc nightly news tonight. Reporter this is primary day in georgia. Lines in atlanta stretching for blocks. Some standing in the rain, forced to wait hours to cast a ballot. Youve been here about three hours . Im not leaving. Youre not leaving . Why are you so intent upon staying here . Its important. Its important for me. Its important for my son. So, were going on that fourhour mark. Reporter georgia unveiling new Voting Machines statewide right in the midst of a pandemic. Several of the machines were broken. It seemed like maybe half the machines were down. It was a disappointment. This is something that should have been checked yesterday. Reporter the biggest problems in metro atlanta, specifically areas with higher black populations. Blayne alexander reporting for nbc nightly news tonight. I should mention that blayne alexander herself voted at her home precinct in georgia today, and she says that she herself waited more than two hours in line. She says there were for her whole precinct there were four Voting Machines that were working and only one poll worker to check people in. She waited more than two hours. But whats happened in georgia today has been Front Page National news all day, alongside Everything Else that has happened today. At politico. Com, this was the headline. Quote, a hot, flaming mess. Georgia primary beset by chaos and long lines. On the front page of the Washington Post, in georgia, primary day snarled by long lines, problems with Voting Machines, a potential preview of november. It was the same vibe on the front page of the wall street journal. In a warning for november, voters endure long lines in georgias primary election. The New York Times has been front page the situation in georgia all day today. Quote, i refuse not to be heard. Georgia in uproar over voting meltdown. Quote, georgias statewide primary elections on tuesday were overwhelmed by a fullscale meltdown of new voting systems put in place after widespread claims of Voter Suppression during the states 2018 governors election. Scores of new stateordered Voting Machines were reported to be missing or malfunctioning. And hourslong lines materialized at polling places across georgia. Some people gave up and left before casting a ballot and concerns spread that the problems would disenfranchise untold voters, particularly africanamericans. Predominately black areas experienced some of the worst problems. Now, heres where the times got their headline on this piece today. Quote, in atlantas old fourth ward, the neighborhood where the reverend dr. Martin luther king jr. Grew up, she arrived at her polling place five minutes before polls were to open at 7 00 a. M. She thought it was early enough to vote fast, avoid trouble and get on with her day. Three hours later, she was still waiting in line, having moved about 60 feet from where she had started. At first, voters were told the machines were not function. Then they were told poll workers didnt have the passwords necessary to operate. The line stretched three city blocks and complies comprised many masked, some in lawn chairs. Everyone sweating as the temperature pushed toward 90 degrees. Ms. Mitchell, age 50, a stationary designer who is africanamerican was livid. She said, quote, its disgusting, its despicable. Around the corner, retiree terry russel had also been waiting for three hours. She leaned on a beach chair that a dogooder offered her. She has bronchitis and asthma and rarely left the house even when there was no pandemic. She said she request an absentee ballot but never received one. Quote, i renefuse not to be hea, and so im standing in line. What happened today in georgia, whats still happening into the night tonight in georgia is something that everybody saw coming. From multiple vantage points, even just in the immediate past. In that 2018 governors race in georgia, you may recall that Democrat Stacey Abrams narrowly lost to a republican named brian kemp. Brian kemps previous job had been secretary of state in georgia, which meant he was in charge of administering that election in which he, himself, was running for governor. He did not recuse himself from administering that election, even though he was the candidate at the top of the ticket. Part of the way he prepared the ground for georgia in that election was that he kicked more than 500,000 people off the voter rolls in georgia a year ahead of that general election, which was absolutely unprecedented in modern times in that state. On election day in 2018, with 500,000plus people having been kicked off the rolls, it was a total breakdown and total dysfunction at the polls. It led to such a debacle of an election day that it made nationwide headlines even on a day when lots else was going on. It was such a debacle that that democrat, stacey abrams, would not concede that she had lost that race fairly. And Many Democrats still dont believe she did. That was 2018. That was the last major election in georgia. Then in advance of this election today in georgia, you could also see todays disaster coming. When the new republican secretary of state, the guy who replaced brian kemp when brian kemp became governor, the new republican secretary of state decided to make what even the local hometown press in georgia considered to be a very highstakes bet. Kind of an experiment, little wager here. Here goes nothing. Great leap for the state. An electronic Voting Machine Company hired brian kemps former Campaign Manager to be its lobbyist. And then the brian Kemp Administration in georgia hired that company to replace all of the Voting Machines in every city, town and county in georgia, all in record time, literally record time. The state had this board of evaluators that was looking at the various companies who were trying to get that voting machine contract. This board of evaluators look at the different bids from the companies and what they were offering. They did not pick the company that georgia ultimately went with. They picked a Different Company altogether. Nope, the state administration decided they would go with the Company Brian kemps Campaign Manager was the lobbyist for. There has never been a bigger job in u. S. Election history. As the atlantajournal constitution pointed out last november, what georgia was trying to roll out here was the largest and fastest rollout of elections equipment in u. S. History. This company had never had anything of this size. The company had never installed so much equipment at once and on such a time schedule. Georgia was trying to do the impossible. I mean, something that everybody knew at the time was impossible. 30,000 brandnew Voting Machines of a type that hadnt been used in the state for 7 million voters, more than 2,600 precincts, all at once, all in a matter of months in a state where voting was already an apparent and deliberate disaster. And thats what they set out to do. And now today that disastrous bet has paid off. Not a surprise. This was the absolutely foreseeable headline in the atlantajournal constitution tonight. Quote, new Voting Machines lead to lines and problems on Georgia Election day. Yeah, you think . Quote, problems with georgias new Voting Computers plagued the states primary election today, leading to lines and voters leaving without casting their ballots. Poll workers said they have difficulties turning on the voting checkin computers and encoding voter access cards and installing touch screens. Voters waited in lines for hours at various precincts across cobb and dekalb and fulton and gwinnett counties. A precinct manager at cross keys high where voting had essentially shut down Tuesday Morning said he couldnt use the voter checkin computers. Quote, the touch pads arent receiving or accepting the authorizations and we are out of provisional ballots. Theres nothing we can do. People queued in the High School Parking lot there for hours. But essentially that voting location shut down. Dekalb county commissioner marina davisjohnson told the atlantajournal constitution, quote, even the poll workers dont know what to do. These are new machines and you expect people to run them in less than a couple of months . If this is a preview of november, we are in trouble. If this is a preview of november, we are in trouble. Well, you know, it depends on your perspective, i suppose. Because its not like georgia didnt know this was coming. Not what happened in their last disastrous, botched election. Not after what they did to the voter rolls on purpose for that election. Not what they did with this voting machine debacle at the very last minute right before this president ial election year, which one Good Government advocate today in georgia called, quote, like walmart trying to decide they wanted to change out their point of sale system on black friday. I mean, you know, maybe this is trouble today in georgia. You know, maybe these are problems and snafus today in georgia, or maybe this is something on which the Georgia State government has been diligently working. Because everybody saw it coming and then it did. But heres another angle on the on same problem in a different place. One week ago today the great state of iowa held its primary elections this year. And look at this. This is what the secretary of state sent out when the results came in a week ago tonight. Good job, everybody. Well done. Sort of goobery fireworks meme that he sent out with his congratulatory tweet. But as goobery as that is, it actually was well done in iowa. A week ago tonight, for the primary that they just held, the state of iowa broke all turnout records for a june primary. The last record for a june primary in 1994, iowa voters blew through that record. Easily. They set a huge new turnout record a week ago tonight. And against the odds, right . This is in the midst of iowa having a considerable coronavirus outbreak, right . Iowa has had over 22,000 cases. Theyve had a bunch of terrible outbreaks, particularly in Meat Processing plants. Iowa has had, honestly, a weird and secretive and super random response from their State Government and their governor, which has not helped, either with the disease itself there or with people trusting the government to get things right and keep them safe. I mean, this election last tuesday night happened in the middle of all that worry. It also happened in the middle of the protests over the death of george floyd, which have been very significant protests in iowa and, unfortunately, theres been some pretty serious unrest and violence around some of those protests. Some people hurt. But still, in the midst of though things all at once, they held a primary election a week ago tonight and iowa set a record for turnout, which is great, right . Good job, everyone. As the secretary of state said. Well, the way that iowa set that turnout record is very simple. They sent everyone an application for an absentee ballot. They sent everybody who was an active voter in iowa an application for an absentee ballot. You got one in the mail. So all you had to do was fill out that application, send it back and you would get sent an absentee ballot to vote by mail. Thats it. Thats what they did. Thats what gave them record turnout that they were all so proud of. At least they were all super proud of it as of tuesday of last week when they had this no hitches, smooth primary with record turnout that got results right away, everything was fine, no complaints, it all worked. Everything else going wrong in the state of iowa. Not that primary. It worked. And they were all super proud of it as of tuesday. By the end of last week, by friday, republicans in the state legislature had already drafted a bill and started moving a bill that will stop the state from ever doing an election like that again. Because doing it that way made it easy and safe for people to vote. And so lots of people voted, and so republicans in the Iowa State Legislature apparently believe that that must be stopped. And dont take it from me, take it from the association of local Elections Officials in iowa who are raging against this. In their words they are, quote, baffled by it. Heres the statement from the president of their administration. Quote, county auditors as local commissioners of elections are baffled by this. The 2020 primary was very