Hello and welcome to the Intelligence on Economist Radio.

I'm your host, Jason Palmer.

Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

Today, George Floyd will be laid to rest.

His death at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer

has served as a catalyst for protest far beyond where he lived. Looking back, our obituaries

editor reflects on how a big Texas man with an even bigger smile found plenty of work in Minnesota,

and on how he ultimately found himself beneath a policeman's knee.

Looking forward, though, Mr. Floyd's legacy is yet to be written.

His death may at last be the force for change in policing that thousands upon thousands of deaths before his have not. George Floyd!

It might not even have made the Minneapolis local news,

another black man killed in police custody,

a scenario that plays out week after week across the country.

But the death of George Floyd 15 days ago tapped into an almighty fury, first locally, then nationally.

Fires burned and protesters took to the street.

Now internationally. Thousands of protesters across the

world have shown their support for the Black Lives Matter movement. As anger has given way to grieving

in America, street protests are subsiding and talk has turned from the endless cycle of symptoms

to treating the disease, reforming the police.

Yesterday, Democrats in the House of Representatives put forward a sweeping new bill to start

those reforms, to crack down on police brutality, and to keep tabs on officers who resort to

unnecessary force.

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