George Floyd and Emmett Till families see parallels in loss

CHICAGO (AP) β€” The murders of Emmett Till and George Floyd were separated by more than six decades, contrasting circumstances and countless protests, but their families say they feel an intimate connection in their grief and what comes next.

Till was a Black Chicago teenager whose lynching in 1955 energized the civil rights movement. Floyd’s killing last May by a white Minneapolis police officer propelled a worldwide call for racial justice and ending police brutality. Both families recount similar anguish in mourning deaths that became flashpoints in American history.

Floyd’s brother says Till was β€œthe first George Floyd.” Till’s cousin Ollie Gordon says Floyd death was also a lynching.

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