Several members of the Houston Texans organization attended the funeral for George Floyd on Tuesday at The Fountain of Praise church in Houston.
Among those eulogizing Floyd, whose death has sparked a global reckoning over police brutality and racial prejudice, was the Rev. Al Sharpton, who used the occasion to address Colin Kaepernick's future on the field in the NFL.
Among the Texans contingent, per NFL Network's James Palmer, was chairman and CEO Cal McNair and his wife, Hannah, head coach and general manager Bill O'Brien, executive vice president of football ops Jack Easterby, defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver, offensive coordinator Tim Kelly, star defensive end J.J. Watt and Bengals defensive tackle D.J. Reader, who spent the first four seasons of his career in Houston.
O'Brien said last week that the Texans would not hold any virtual meetings on the day of Floyd's funeral.
The Texans also wrote on their official Twitter account, "The city of Houston mourns today. Rest in peace, George."
Hundreds of mourners wearing masks to guard against the coronavirus packed a Houston church a little more than two weeks after Floyd was pinned to the pavement by a white Minneapolis police officer who put a knee on his neck for what prosecutors said was 8 minutes and 46 seconds.
Cellphone video of the encounter, including Floyd's pleas of "I can't breathe," ignited protests and scattered violence across the U.S. and around the world, turning the 46-year-old Floyd -- a man who in life was little known beyond the public housing project where he was raised in Houston's Third Ward -- into a worldwide symbol of injustice.
"Third Ward, Cuney Homes, that's where he was born at," Floyd's brother, Rodney, told mourners. "But everybody is going to remember him around the world. He is going to change the world."
Dozens of Floyd's family members, most dressed in white, were led into the sanctuary by Sharpton. During his eulogy, the noted civil rights activist called on the league to "give Colin Kaepernick a job back." Kaepernick has not played since the 2016 season when he peacefully protested racial injustice and police brutality in the U.S. by kneeling during the national anthem.
"It's nice to see some people change their mind. The head of the NFL said, 'Yeah, maybe we was wrong. Football players, maybe they did have the right to peacefully protest,'" Sharpton said. "Well, don't apologize. Give Colin Kaepernick a job back. Don't come with some empty apology. Take a man's livelihood. Strip a man down of his talents. And four years later, when the whole world is marching, all of a sudden you go and do a FaceTime, talk about you sorry. Minimizing the value of our lives. You sorry? Then repay the damage you did to the career you stood down, 'cause when Colin took a knee, he took it for the families in this building. And we don't want an apology. We want him repaired."
The funeral came a day after about 6,000 people attended a public memorial, also in Houston, waiting for hours under a baking sun to pay their respects to Floyd, whose body lay in an open gold-colored casket. Over the past six days, memorials for Floyd were also held in Minneapolis, where he lived in recent years, and Raeford, North Carolina, near where he was born.
Following the funeral, Floyd's body was to be taken by horse-drawn carriage to a cemetery in suburban Pearland, where he was to be laid to rest next to his mother.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
