New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Saturday told reporters "many more people of color died from the COVID virus than white people" and connected it to inequality in America, including the death of George Floyd after he was pinned by the neck under a white police officer's knee.
Referring to Floyd's death, Cuomo said, "how many times have we seen the same situation?
Yes - the names change, but the color doesn't." Thousands of protesters stormed the security perimeter of Barclays Center in New York on Friday as protests spread across the United States over the killing of Floyd, a Minneapolis black man.
Police made scores of arrests at Friday's massive demonstration in Brooklyn, loading cuffed protesters onto city buses lined up on Atlantic Avenue, shutting down a major thoroughfare.
Cuomo on Saturday said change in America is needed but that "violence is not the answer." He then quoted Martin Luther King: "Returning hate for hate multiplies hate."
Gov. Andrew Cuomo used his daily coronavirus briefing to discuss the George Floyd protests.
