RAEFORD, N.C. _ George Floyd's casket rolled slowly into Hoke County, gospel music flowing from the mourners' cars behind.
As the hearse stopped at the church door, hundreds crowded around, phones held high, some sobbing. And as pallbearers rolled the slain man inside, shouts arose. "Black power! George Floyd!"
Mourners stood beneath umbrellas in a line 500 people long, waiting to view the casket 20 at a time. Some were sweating hard enough that their masks slid wet off their faces.
They had started arriving before dawn, eager to join the global outcry over police violence as the world's eyes trained on a rural North Carolina community just outside Fort Bragg.
Though mainly from Houston, Floyd was born in Fayetteville 22 miles east of the church. Much of his large family still calls North Carolina home, including his sister Bridgett Floyd, a Hoke resident. Gov. Roy Cooper ordered North Carolina flags flown at half-staff Saturday in his honor.
Floyd lay inside an open gold casket, wearing a tan blazer. Flowers and portraits surrounded him as hundreds filed quickly past, some of them wailing.
The memorial marked the second service for Floyd, 46, who died in Minneapolis on May 25, after a police officer placed his knee on his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. Four fired officers have been charged in his death, one with second-degree murder, the others with aiding and abetting second-degree murder, The Associated Press reported.
Floyd's death, captured in a now-viral video, sparked protests that left cities vandalized, looted and scarred after violent clashes with police using tear gas and rubber bullets, including in Raleigh, where some have called for Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin's resignation.
"It reminded me of the '60s," Barbara Clark said while waiting in line to pay her respects. Her daughter lives in Hoke County. "It reminded me of when I was in California for the riots in '92. Always flashing back to the same thing. Black men getting murdered."
The RL Douglas Cape Fear Conference Center, between a nail salon and a Circle K, lacked the grandeur of a big-city church.
But mourners came in their Sunday best, conscious of their moment in world events.
"Hoke County is my home," said Ellen McLaurin. "I'm just so honored to be a part of it. So I couldn't stay at home. I figured I could get up there and just give five hours."
People set up chairs along the busy highway as police dogs scanned the conference-center parking lot. Vendors set up across the highway, giving out Black Lives Matter buttons and selling Floyd shirts that read, "I can't breathe."
Gregg Packer took an overnight train from Long Island in New York, arriving in Fayetteville at 3 a.m.
"I felt like I needed to come down here to support the protests and the family of George Floyd," he said, placing an emphasis on the slain man's name. "I hope that we can all get along with each other, that we can start treating each other the way we all should."
Some locals found meaning in a global event arriving at their door, feeling compelled to represent their corner of the world.
"With Fayetteville being a small town, it's a military town but it's still small, and Raeford is even smaller," said Gracie Howard. "All eyes being on this community, it's opened up a lot of eyes to racial injustice. This has been going on too long. And George, he changed the world."
Just past 7 a.m., pastor Willie Monroe pulled his car to the side of the road, got out carrying a pillow and explained to sheriff's deputies that he needed to get to the church.
Walking with a slight limp, he made his way across the large empty parking lot to where media trucks had assembled.
"This is the pillow that my wife makes for families, instead of flowers or a card," he said. "Something they can have forever."
He showed off the pillow, quilted with portraits of Floyd and a poem written by his daughter, Kim Burns.
"I'm trying to get this to Bridgett, his sister," he said, handing the gift to a TV reporter. "Tell her if anybody else in the family wants one, they can have it free of charge. We won't be at the memorial because of the crowds." Then he walked away.
U.S. 401 closed periodically in both directions as troopers let drivers enter and exit the parking lot.
Around 11 a.m., about 100 motorcycles assembled outside the church revving their engines. As the riders roared past, mourners chanted Floyd's name with, "No justice, no peace."
Later, as the viewing continued, Hoke County social services buses arrived with new mourners.
A half-dozen armed men in Black Panther uniforms and berets entered the viewing, one carrying a flag. They raised their fists in a Black Power salute.
At the service in Minneapolis, The Associated Press reported the Rev. Al Sharpton's spirited eulogy: "George Floyd's story has been the story of black folks," he said, "because ever since 401 years ago, the reason we could never be who we wanted and dreamed to be is you kept your knee on our neck."
At that service, Floyd's brothers described growing up in Houston's Third Ward, sleeping in the same beds and washing their socks in the bathroom sink, leaving them to dry for school on the water heater, according to a live stream provided by USA Today.
"That was just ingenuity," said younger brother Rodney. "We worked with what we had. Didn't have much, but we had a house full of love."
Many of Floyd's relatives have described him as a "gentle giant" for his size _ well over 6 feet tall. A former football player in Houston high schools, he worked in night club security until he lost his job in the coronavirus pandemic, the AP has reported. In Minneapolis, family said friends knew him better by Big George, Big Floyd or Perry _ his middle name.
In Hoke County, Bridgett Floyd posted a call for financial help on GoFundMe.com, asking for $5,000 in travel and other expenses. By mid-day Friday, she had raised more than $360,000, most of it in $5 or $10 denominations arriving from as far away as New Zealand.
"My brother was murdered by the Minnesota policeman," she wrote. "I am his baby sister Bridgett Floyd, and I love my brother with all my heart. He has a loving family he has left behind. Floyd would give you the shirt off his back, and anybody that know him knows that!"
