Advertisement

Why Minneapolis was the perfect tinderbox for angry protests after George Floyd's death

U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, along with members of the United States Congressional Black Caucus, on Thursday, June 4, when they visited the site where George Floyd died - Anthony Souffle/AP
U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, along with members of the United States Congressional Black Caucus, on Thursday, June 4, when they visited the site where George Floyd died - Anthony Souffle/AP

It took eight minutes and 46 seconds, the amount of time Derek Chauvin dug his knee into George Floyd's neck, to kick off a global movement against police brutality.

The intensity of the protests, spanning America's coastlines and beyond, caught many unawares.

But ask people at the epicentre of the unrest in Minneapolis, where Mr Floyd was killed, and many will tell you the reaction is not so surprising. After all, they have been here before.

When the city's police fatally shot Jamar Clark, another unarmed black man, in 2015, activists occupied the entrance to the police station for 18 days.

Protestors outside the Hennepin County Courthouse on March 30, 2016 in Minneapolis, after Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced there would be no charges brought against the officers involved in the death of Jamar Clark in November 2015 - Stephen Maturen/Getty Images North America
Protestors outside the Hennepin County Courthouse on March 30, 2016 in Minneapolis, after Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced there would be no charges brought against the officers involved in the death of Jamar Clark in November 2015 - Stephen Maturen/Getty Images North America

Similar protests erupted in the Twin Cities in 2016 after the police killing of Philando Castile was partially live streamed by his girlfriend, while her four-year-old daughter looked on.

In fact, there are so many names on the roll call that one local group, Communities United Against Police Brutality (CUAPB), have taken to publishing an annual list of victims.

Minneapolis is not unique - examples of America's long history of police brutality can be found in every corner of the country - from Tamir Rice in Ohio to Eric Garner in New York.

But local activists say Minneapolis' image as a liberal enclave amid an increasingly conservative Midwest can be misleading.

The hometown of Prince, it is known as a cosmopolitan city, with the largest Somali diaspora in the country and a recent track record of electing ethnic minorities to high office.

Among them is Ilhan Omar, the first woman in Congress to wear a hijab, and Keith Ellison, the Minnesota Attorney General, who became the first African American and Muslim elected to statewide office.

But despite its diversity and its reputation as one of the most liveable cities in the US, Minneapolis is also home to some of the largest racial disparities in the nation.

The average black family in Minneapolis earns around $38,000 a year, while the average white one earns around $83,000 annually. The city also has one of the lowest black home ownership rates in the country, with just a quarter of black families owning their own home.

"These disparities are actually mirrored in the Minneapolis Police Department," said Miski Noor, from local activist group Black Visions Collective.

"Black folks account for more than 60 per cent of the victims in police shootings in Minneapolis in the last 20 years. Of all on-duty fatal shootings by Minneapolis police officers, the only one who has been convicted in the last few decades is Mohamed Noor, a black cop who killed a white woman."

Even the city's police chief, Medaria Arradondo, once sued his own department after accusing it of having a history of tolerating racism and discrimination. When he took the top job in 2017, Mr Arradondo promised change.

But as protests over the killing of Mr Floyd spread to more than 140 US cities, Mr Arradondo has been forced to publicly acknowledge that progress has been slow.

Critics say one of the obstacles to change is the city's powerful police officers union - and particularly its leader, Bob Kroll -  who has been a central figure in the clashes between police and protesters that have played out over the last 10 days.

Mr Kroll, a Trump acolyte who has been accused of links to white supremacists in the past, has a history of making incendiary remarks which have inflamed tensions with Minneapolis' black community on more than one occasion.

President Donald Trump greets Bob Kroll, president of the Minneapolis police union, during a campaign rally in the city in October 2019 - Leah Mills/Reuters
President Donald Trump greets Bob Kroll, president of the Minneapolis police union, during a campaign rally in the city in October 2019 - Leah Mills/Reuters

Mr Kroll set those tensions ablaze once more this week when he called Mr Floyd a “violent criminal” and described the ongoing protests as a “terrorist movement” in a letter to union members.

In this frame from video provided by Darnella Frazier, Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin kneels on the neck of George Floyd, despite him pleading that he could not breathe - Darnella Frazier
In this frame from video provided by Darnella Frazier, Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin kneels on the neck of George Floyd, despite him pleading that he could not breathe - Darnella Frazier

Such is the level of animosity between officers and the community organisations which have sprung out of the spate of police shootings in recent years, that some groups are now actively working to defund the police force - with the eventual goal of abolishing it entirely.

Among them is Black Visions Collective, an organisation which grew out of the Black Lives Matter movement. The organisation wants money allocated to police budgets to be reallocated to areas that have been hit by Covid-19.

One of its leaders, Miski Noor, said: "This country still has a lot to make right and reconcile. It has to do that by uprooting these systems, like policing. How could we live in a world where an institution like that exists and expect that some of us aren't going to be targeted and harmed over and over again?"

"It's really exciting to think about Minneapolis being a model for the country around moving forward and realising a police-free world," Miski added.

"It feels like a turning point in a lot of ways. People are out there right now [protesting], and I don't see them stopping any time soon in the fight for justice."

Other activists agree that the protests that have taken hold of the city since Mr Floyd's death have given them a new - and global - platform from which to force officials to enact change.

"There isn't any choice," said Michelle Gross, president of CUAPB. "Some of these officials are acting like they can put the genie back in the bottle with a few half measures. Not this time."