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Most people in the US (and around the world?) probably know the name George Floyd by now. Floyd was killed by a police officer in Minnepolis a few weeks ago. His death was filmed by a bystander. Floyd was the latest of many victims of police violence, in Minneapolis and across the US. This isn't just a generic problem with police behavior. This is a problem with racist police behavior. Like many victims of police violence, Floyd was Black.
Minneapolis residents took to the streets to protest the unjust murder of George Floyd. This has happened after several high-profile police murders in Minneapolis. But something was different this time. I wasn't at the protests, so I can't really speak first-hand. And I'm writing about this weeks later, so honestly it's hard to organize my recollections about what happened when exactly. The police responded to the protests with violence, firing tear gas and projectiles at protesters. Protestors and others burned buildings—significantly, the third precinct police station—and looted local businesses. Most surprisingly, local politicians started demanding action and change.
A lot of buildings burned in just a few days. I think the latest count I saw was 135. Most of these were in South Minneapolis, where the protests were most active, but other burnings were spread out throughout the city. In North Minneapolis, there weren't big protests. There wasn't a lot of rioting. But somebody was driving in, starting fires, and getting out. The same pattern seemed to repeat in other neighborhoods. Gas stations, auto parts stores and pharmacies in particular seemed to be popular targets. These weren't an escalation of anger at the murder of George Floyd. They were planned and targeted arsons taking advantage of the distraction of the protests to advance a different agenda.
So who was starting these fires? I'm inclined to blame right-wing milita radicals and white supremacists. Arrest reports and local social media sightings suggest that several vehicles were driving around with license plates removed and right-wing boogaloo and three-percenter bumper stickers.
Again, I'm loosely separating the fires in the midst of the protest from the fires in other neighborhoods. I can't really speak for what was going on at the protests as well.
I was honestly surprised at how quickly and directly the Minneapolis city council started calling for action. After watching the same events play out again and again, both in Minneapolis and around the country, I was expecting the same response: empty apologies and maybe some ineffective reforms. Instead, I saw city council members saying that our policing system is broken, reforms haven't worked, and it's time to defund the police. This is big!
I know that early talk doesn't always lead to action. In this case, I have a lot of faith in the city council to push for radical changes. I'm sure there will be opposition, both at the local level and from the state legislature, which has a history of passing state laws to deliberately override local reforms. If this effort fails, I don't expect it to be from lack of trying by the city council.
In particular, I'm super proud of the council member for our ward. He was out on the streets organizing and participating in neighborhood watches during the most active days of protests, riots and arsons.
I don't want to discount the work that protestors (and rioters!) have done. If the city council had started talking about defunding the police a month ago, I think it would have gone nowhere. The reason it's getting traction now is because people are out on the streets demanding radical change. The city council isn't inventing these demands, but they're carrying them forward.
On Saturday morning, I walked out to see if there was any neighborhood cleanup, or anything going on that I could help with. I found an emergency resource pop-up. Most grocery stores in the area were closed, either as a precaution or a result of damage. This group was coming together to try to provide groceries, personal health items, toilet paper, and more to people in the neighborhood who relied on the local stores.
I honestly don't know how they were organizing. The number of donations and volunteers that showed up was wonderful. A non-stop stream of folks came through the line to pick up goods. I think they expected to stay until they ran out of stuff, but instead the donations kept coming in and they had to scramble to find a place to store it all. They brought it all back out the next day, and the day after that.
After a night of anger and fear, it was carthartic to see the community coming together to support each other. I took several days off work to come out and volunteer, and it was the most productive (and exhausting) that I've felt in a long time.
Now, a month later, there are several resource pop-ups in our neighborhood. The group that I found originally is still running. They have scaled back to one or two days a week, and I am still helping out whenever they put up an event.
How do we move forward from this? How can we move past policing to something that actually provides public safety? How can I help?
I wish I had an easy answer, but I feel like I'm still trying to catch up. Fortunately, there are several organizations that have been researching and planning this for years. It seems like the Minneapolis city council has been paying attention, and I hope they can take this opportunity to make some radical changes.
I don't want to just sit around and wait to see what happens, but I haven't really figured out how to make myself useful. I don't need to be directly involved in police abolition specifically. I just want to find a way to work for justice. I kind of hoped that I might make some connections at the resource pop-up. That hasn't really happened (and that's okay). I don't know where to go from here, though.
As I reread this, I'm sorry to say that I'm not much of a writer. I'm not a journalist. I feel like I've barely said any of what I wanted to here, and I definitely failed to capture the feeling behind my thoughts. I wish I could do justice to the events that are happening in this city.
emptyhallway
2020-06-22