Speakers at a prayer service on the eve of opening statements in the Derek Chauvin murder and manslaughter trial urged peace, unity and justice for George Floyd.
"My brother didn't ask for this," Floyd's brother, Philonise Floyd, said at a news conference before the Sunday night vigil. "I didn't ask to be a part of this fraternity that nobody wants to be a part of. I think about my brother every day and every night. I think about his kids."
Floyd urged observers to focus on the bystander video taken of his brother's final breaths, as he asked for a conviction.
"I have faith that he will get convicted. Just like everybody who's seen that video because the video is the proof," he said.
The vigil at Greater Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in Minneapolis began with gospel music and dance. But as Pastor Billy G. Russell began to speak, a heckler interrupted. She was escorted out to cheers as Russell prayed for "peaceful and effective protests."
The Rev. Al Sharpton, founder and president of National Action Network, called for accountability.
"We must show with this case that a police officer must face the law just like anybody else," he said. Philonise Floyd also urged unity, saying there's only one race, the human race. "It's not Black versus white, it's not Asian versus white, it's not anything like that," he said. "People of color need to learn how to live with each other and love each other."
Earlier Sunday, leaders of a protest in downtown Minneapolis demanded justice for George Floyd.
