George Floyd's niece asked 'when has America ever been great' and Trump stayed silent

The funeral of George Floyd took place in Houston, Texas on Tuesday just over two weeks after the unarmed black man was killed by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

A reported 500 people attended the service which saw speeches given by civil rights activist Reverend Al Sharpton and Minnesota governor, Tim Walz and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.

However, perhaps the most powerful and poignant words were read by Floyd's young niece, Brooke Williams who aimed an important question directly at Donald Trump.

Speaking about her uncle's untimely and needless death she asked Derek Chauvin, the officer who knelt down on Floyd's neck for eight minutes, 46 seconds:

He begged and pleaded many times just for you to get up. But you just pushed harder. 

Why must this system be corrupt and broken? Laws were already put in place for African-American system to fail.

These laws need to be changed. No more hate crimes please. 

She then turned her attention to Trump and used the president's famous slogan as a rhetorical question:

Somebody said make America great again. But when has America ever been great?

Those four officers were literally on him for nine minutes and none of them showed they have a heart or soul. This is not just a murder, but a hate crime.

Williams' speech was greeted with cheers and applause from those in attendance and has been widely praised on social media but the man she was addressing, the president of the United States has remained silent.

Instead, Trump spent most of Tuesday praising his fellow Republicans, the US air force, complaining about calls to defund the police and spreading further conspiracy theories about coronavirus.

Just a few days ago, Trump had claimed that Floyd was "looking down" and that it was a great day for him because of America's positive jobs numbers.

Sharpton also took aim at Trump during the ceremony, criticising his church photo op during riots outside of the White House. He said:

You take rubber bullets and teargas to clear out peaceful protesters, and then take a Bible and walk in front of a church, and use a church as a prop. Wickedness in high places.

As Williams asked, "when has America ever been great?" Well, we can't be certain but it is definitely not since 20 January 2017.