Celebrity1 min(s) read
Published 13:01 04 Jun 2020 GMT
The Duchess of Sussex has shared a personal video message about the impact of George Floyd's death.
Addressing students graduating from her former school in Los Angeles, Immaculate Heart, Meghan said that recent events had been "devastating".
In the clip, Meghan began by apologizing to the graduating students, saying "we have not gotten the world to the place that you deserve it to be."
"I wasn't sure what I could say to you. I wanted to say the right thing and I was really nervous that I wouldn't or it would get picked apart, and I realized the only wrong thing to say is to say nothing - because George Floyd's life mattered and Breonna Taylor's life mattered and Philando Castile's life mattered and Tamir Rice's life mattered," she continued. "And so did so many other people whose names we know and whose names we do not know."
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"I was 11 or 12 years old and it was the LA riots, which was also triggered by a senseless act of racism. I remember the curfew and I remember rushing back home, and on that drive home, seeing ash fall from the sky, and smelling the smoke and seeing the smoke billow out of buildings. I remember seeing men in the back of a van just holding guns and rifles. I remember pulling up the house and seeing the tree, that had always been there, completely charred. And those memories don't go away."
George Floyd, a black man, was arrested by Minneapolis police on Monday, May 25, for reportedly using a counterfeit $20 note in a store.
While being detained, ex-cop Derek Chauvin - a 19-year veteran of the force - knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
Protests, both peaceful and violent, have since erupted across the US and in major cities across the world.
Yesterday, it was revealed that the three former police officers who accompanied Derek Chauvin as he retrained the late Floyd are to be charged in connection with the 46-year-old African-American's death.
Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar announced plans to charge ex-Minneapolis cops Thomas Lane, Tou Thao, and J Alexander Kueng.
Klobuchar tweeted:
"Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is increasing charges against Derek Chauvin to 2nd degree in George Floyd’s murder and also charging other 3 officers. This is another important step for justice."
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Lane and Kueng helped Chauvin restrain Floyd, while Thao stood nearby as the scene unfolded.
She also revealed that 42-year-old Chauvin has had charges against him upgraded from third-degree murder to second-degree murder.
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Details of any charges the former cops are set to face yet to be announced, and it is unclear whether those three officers will be charged with the same offense(s).
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