George Floyd: America's time to reassess issues with race and policing

• Video report by ITV News US Correspondent Emma Murphy

Finally the Floyd family can acknowledge the justice they have waited a year for.

Here, in Minneapolis, they are gathered together in a hotel far from home, where they first came in those dreadful hours after George Floyd’s death.

In the midst of a pandemic, this place opened its doors to them when they were lost in grief and startled by shock. As a result, it is their safe place in this city.

And so it was at the beginning of this trial they returned here, their home in grief. A place of welcome in a city where they lost so much.

We have spent a lot of time here with them, aware of all they face, mindful of what they have gone through.

We were all here the day Daunte Wright was shot. I watched as members of the Floyd family stood in front of televisions unable to believe that as a jury was about to judge on their case, another family were struggling with the grief of a very public loss.

Daunte Wright’s family are now being supported by the same legal team as George Floyd’s. Given the amount of work to be done, their lawyers brought them together in the same hotel.

There is a practical, logistical benefit but there is an emotional one too.

When they arrived, we watched as the Floyd family sat with them, listened and helped them navigate the new, dreadful world they are now a part of. Families united in a way they could never imagine.

When news of the verdict came in the Wright family saw the Floyd’s off, now the ones offering strength for what was ahead.

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The joy of their justice brought the first relief I have seen in this place for days. When the Floyds returned, the Wrights were here to welcome them back.

Watching as new members of this awful club no one wishes to be a part of. Daunte’s aunt in her grief told me how one day they would also get this moment of judicial acknowledgement.

Tomorrow they will stand beside each other again at Daunte Wright’s funeral.

Until then, they will help each other through in this hotel that has become some kind of heartbreaking home for those who grieve as a result of the actions of those who pledged to protect.

If ever there were a place to learn about resilience it is here. But it is also the place to learn about America’s desperate need to reassess everything about race and policing.

Tiffany Cofield, a close friend of George Floyd, says he was a very gentle and kind person who loved his friends and family and cared deeply about the community