GEORGE FLOYD, a black man whose death under the knee of a white police officer roused worldwide protests against racial injustice, was remembered at his funeral Tuesday as “an ordinary brother” transformed by fate into the “cornerstone of a movement.”

Dozens of Floyd’s family members, most dressed in white, took part in the four-hour service in Houston, Texas, the United States.

Grammy-winning singer Ne-Yo was among those who sang. Civil rights leaders and other dignitaries who attended the service included Rev. Al Sharpton, actors Jamie Foxx and Channing Tatum, J.J. Watt of the NFL’s Houston Texans, rapper Trae tha Truth, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, who brought the crowd to its feet when he announced he will sign an executive order banning chokeholds in the city.

The funeral service also drew hundreds who sought to show solidarity with Floyd’s family following his death at the hands of Minneapolis police officers. The 46-year-old died May 25 after a white police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes as he and his colleagues arrested him.

An onlooker’s cellphone recorded the incident showing the 46-year-old black man saying, “Please, I can’t breathe” and “Don’t kill me” as the police officer pressed his knee onto Floyd’s neck. After several minutes of the police office pressing his knee on Floyd’s neck, the victim went silent and was later pronounced dead.

The video quickly went viral on social media, sparking widespread protests from Tuesday afternoon, some of which have deteriorated into chaos.

In the two weeks since his death, protests have spilled beyond the U.S. as countries across the world show solidarity with the demonstrators seeking justice for Floyd’s family.

The memorial was punctuated by gospel music and a video montage of shared memories of the man affectionately known as “Big Floyd.”

Floyd’s younger brother, Terrence, spoke about awakening in the middle of the night in recent days traumatized by the memory of seeing his older sibling calling out for their mother as he lay dying.

His older brother, Philonise, sobbing in grief, told mourners, “George was my personal superman.”

Former Vice President and presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden made a video address to the service lamenting that “too many black Americans wake up knowing that they could lose their life in the course of just living their life.”

While Biden eschewed mentioning his opponent in November, other speakers took swipes at U.S. President Donald Trump, who has ignored demands to address racial bias and has called on authorities to crack down hard on lawlessness.

“The president talks about bringing in the military, but he did not say one word about 8 minutes and 46 seconds of police murder of George Floyd,” said the Rev. Al Sharpton, the civil rights activist.

Floyd served nearly five years in prison for robbery with a deadly weapon before becoming a mentor and a church outreach volunteer in Houston. He moved to Minnesota several years ago through a program that tried to change men’s lives by helping them find work in new settings.

At the time of his death, Floyd was out of work as a bouncer at a Minneapolis club that had closed because of the coronavirus outbreak.

He was seized by the police after being accused of passing a counterfeit US$20 bill at a convenience store.(CGTN)