George Floyd In Minneapolis, Minnesota
On May 25,2020, A white officer named Derek Chauvin was seen holding down a man with his knee on his neck, and that man name was George Floyd. The video of this was spread around the world like a virus. In the article I read about this tragedy, “America uprising: Scholars reflect on the death of George Floyd.”, not only did this injustice act cause change in Minnesota, it caused changed in other states too. “a week after Floyd’s death, tens of thousands of people have gathered to hold peaceful protests and vigils in Minneapolis, Boston, Los Angeles, Louisville, New York, Oakland, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C and internationally”. Protests and riots spread through these main states and people were mad and infuriated with how long it took the Police Department of Minneapolis to charge the officer(s) that murdered this man. The peaceful protests were not for long, soon after, the peaceful protests turn to violent protests. According to “Impact Of Minnesota After Death of George Floyd”, since the riots and looting and burning of buildings and businesses, the Governor of Minnesota activates martial law and for to the national guide to come and take back control of the city, which made the entire situation worse. Curfews were put in place to decrease the death tolls, rioting, looting and injuries. The record number of arrest was set not only in this city but in all other cities hitting over one thousand arrests in a single day. During this chaos, not only was Derek Chauvin charged with 2nd degree murder, 3 other officers were charged with aiding and abetting 2nd degree murder. Minnesota’s Department of Human Rights filed a civil rights charge after this incident, and an investigation took place on the Minnesota police department. The investigation wanted to see if the departments “policies, procedures, and practices over the past 10 years to determine if the police department has engaged in any systematic discriminatory practices toward people of color and ensure any such practices are stopped”.
On June 7, the Minneapolis city council members announce that they are wanting to replace the police department. The article “Minneapolis City Council Police Reform”, says from the council president, Lisa Bender, “Our commitment is to end our city’s toxic relationship with the Minneapolis Police Department, to end policing as we know it and to recreate systems of public safety that actually keep us safe”.
On June 8, the house and senate democrats passed a policing reform bill due to the horrible actions of the officers. The journal article, “Police reform bill” states that the “Justice of Policing Act of 2020, contains a number of measures that make it easier to prosecute police misconduct and demilitarize police departments around the country”. The bill seeks to end immunity for police officers and other public officials that are immune to civil lawsuits. Senator Cory Booker proposed a new way to create national registry to track misconduct from officers in their pasts and not to repeat offenders from being hired again through other police departments. The bill would also ban choke-holds against the person being placed under arrest and no knock warrants but the republican senate voted it down but later on March 3rd, it was passed. In the bill, it requires for racial bias training at the federal level, which means that it trains the federal level officers to realize their own implicit and explicit biases. This would be common sense but deadly force is only allowed as a last resort. More body and dashboard camera are required when out in the field for officers. The major part of this bill would be limiting the military equipment shipped to local police departments.
On September 8, the city of Minneapolis renames intersection where George Floyd was killed. The street name was 38th street and Chicago Avenue, and it was changed to “George Floyd Square”.
The city council of Minneapolis unanimously voted to approve the 27-million dollar settlement from when the Floyd family filed a civil lawsuit against the city and the 4 officers that murdered George Floyd, the settlement will surely cover Floyd’s daughter education throughout her life, but the NAACP president and CEO Derrick Johnson said in a statement. “But the acts of Minneapolis Police Department nearly a year ago will ensure that she will have to do so without the loving embrace of her father.”
The city of Minneapolis promised changed, and it seems like slowly but surely they are getting there, but this is only the beginning, there is much work to do not only here, but all over America. This brutal killing caused many feelings, anger, sadness, loneliness, and many more, but with the groups and organizations created to fight systematic racism and change for the betterment of people with different skin color it does not seem so negative because out of all of this, this provided change for the better.
