Civil Rights Leaders, Clergy, Activists and Members Of The Community Gather Across LA To Mark The 1-Year Anniversary Of George Floyd's Death

LEIMERT PARK (CBSLA) - Civil rights leaders, clergy and community members took a knee for nine minutes and 29 seconds Tuesday to commemorate the one year anniversary of the death of George Floyd.

Local clergy said Floyd's murder has caused communities everywhere to take a closer look at what's going on in their cities.

"When I look across the landscape of South LA and see how African American men are being shot and killed at alarming rates, we have to stand on the principles that black lives really do matter," Robert Sausedo, the president and CEO of Community Build, told the assembled crowd.

Tuesday morning in downtown LA, activists and supporters gathered to mark the day. They were energized by the solidarity, though solemn as they remember Floyd and the other black lives lost in the last year.

While some leaders and activists believe that progress has been made since Floyd's death in Los Angeles, like getting LAUSD to reallocate some of its school police budget and the city's move to direct more funds to address racial injustice, most agree that much more work is needed to achieve real systemic changes.

"What I will tell you is the conversations and changing how we do policing and bringing the heart of the community into that conversation is happening in a very real way. And I believe in the coming weeks, not coming months, but in the coming weeks, we're going to see some of that manifest," Sausedo told the Leimert Park crowd.

Rallies are continuing throughout the evening with a large gathering scheduled to take place at the intersection of Sunset and Vine, in Hollywood.