The Guardian view on George Floyd’s legacy: change hearts and minds

<p>Joe Biden wants people to come together over racial issues while Boris Johnson wants them to come apart</p><p>A year ago <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/01/the-guardian-view-on-the-death-of-george-floyd-a-turning-point" title="">George Floyd</a>, a 46-year-old black man, was murdered in Minneapolis in the US, leading to worldwide protests about racial inequality. Mr Floyd’s death by asphyxiation, filmed in awful graphic detail by a bystander, changed America. The policeman who killed Mr Floyd was, unusually, convicted of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/apr/20/derek-chauvin-verdict-guilty-murder-george-floyd" title="">murder</a>. In the US, institutions have had to take long, hard looks at themselves. Within months, a hundred Confederate symbols had been <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/100-confederate-symbols-removed-since-george-floyd_n_5f86255cc5b681f7da1c9d04" title="">removed, relocated or renamed</a>. President Joe Biden promised to end a culture of systemic racism. In Britain, by contrast, the government has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/16/government-race-report-evidence" title="">shamefully</a> sought to demonise the cause of racial justice for political gain.</p><p>Hundreds of anti-racism rallies, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jul/29/george-floyd-death-fuelled-anti-racism-protests-britain" title="">in small towns and big cities</a>, sprang up in Britain last summer. In Bristol, a statue of Edward Colston, a 17th-century slave merchant, was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/dec/09/four-charged-over-damage-to-colston-statue-in-bristol#:~:text=The%20bronze%20memorial%20to%20Colston,amounted%20to%20about%20%C2%A33%2C750." title=""&g