Four years ago, George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, was murdered at the hands of white then-Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, and a global reckoning on racial justice ensued as millions of people took to streets around the world demanding change.
In the days and weeks following Floyd’s death, many promises were made, ranging from elected officials vowing to enact policing reforms to prevent ever-increasing deadly encounters between Black people and law enforcement, to corporations pledging millions of dollars to remedy existing disparities.
“We’ve seen some jurisdictions that have changed some of the laws and policies on their books. We also saw some philanthropic organizations and corporations make promises about a renewed focus on racial justice and equity,” said Nekima Levy Armstrong, a community activist and civil rights attorney. “Some of them have followed through on their promises, while many others have not.”
Policing reforms – past, present and future
Shortly after Floyd was murdered, the city announced several changes to MPD policies that included bans on chokeholds and neck restraints, requiring officers to report or intervene if their colleagues use unreasonable force and changing how use of force is documented by officers. In the following years, more Black men were killed in encounters with law enforcement, and outrage from community members helped usher in more policy changes in Minneapolis.
The killing of 20-year-old motorist Daunte Wright by a Brooklyn Center police officer in 2021 during Derek Chauvin’s murder trial led Minneapolis to place limits on pretextual stops, preventing MPD officers from initiating traffic stops based solely on things like expired tabs or an item dangling from a rearview mirror. The fatal shooting of Amir Locke by a Minneapolis SWAT team member during a no-knock raid on a downtown Minneapolis apartment in February 2022 prompted a ban on unannounced no-knock warrants by MPD officers.
Leslie Redmond, president of the Minneapolis NAACP chapter during the time of Floyd’s murder, said she and other community members can recognize how those policy changes are an improvement. But the continued killings of Black men at the hands of law enforcement shows “a lack of appreciation and respect for Black lives.”
“I don’t think we should expect for it to change and transform overnight, but we have to acknowledge that people’s lives are being lost overnight,” she said. “It’s a delicate dance because on one note, we know that we’re making steps in the right direction somewhat, but there’s still a lot of work to be done and people are dying.”
Going forward, work on further reforms will be directed by court-enforceable agreements prompted by investigations by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights (MDHR) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
Both investigations found that the department had engaged in a pattern or practice of discriminatory policing. The city has now entered into court-enforceable agreements with both state and federal agencies, known as a consent decree, and the comprehensive implementation of police change and reform is now underway. Effective Law Enforcement For All (ELEFA), a nonprofit team made up of former police officials and attorneys, has been selected as the court-appointed independent evaluator for the agreements and will monitor the progress of the city in implementing the changes laid out in the agreements.
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Levy Armstrong called the consent decree a major step toward change within the Minneapolis Police Department. Though the agreements are forward-looking and won’t hold officers accountable for past misconduct, community members are hopeful the process will lead to long lasting changes.
“It’s disheartening to know that some of the officers won’t be held accountable for the harm that they caused,” she said. “At the same time, people have some hope because they know that MPD will be monitored for many years to come and the courts will be involved in that process, which is something new that I feel demonstrates some level of progress.”
Policing policy efforts
Lawmakers on the city, state and federal levels pledged to use legislation to remedy the problems with law enforcement that were laid bare by George Floyd’s murder.
In the days after Floyd was killed by Chauvin, nine council members got on a stage and pledged to dismantle the police department. Of those nine council members, seven are no longer on the council due to either failing to hold onto their seats in the municipal elections held the following year or opting not to run again.
The pledge to dismantle MPD evolved into a ballot question that would have reorganized city government by placing the police department under a new “Department of Public Safety,” shifting control of the department from Mayor Jacob Frey to the council in an effort to more directly legislate reforms. The ballot initiative failed in 2021, and control over the department remains with the mayor.
On the state level, the Legislature passed a police accountability package less than two months after Floyd was killed that included a ban on neck restraints, an end to “warrior”-style training and the addition of two citizen members to the Peace Officer Standards and Training Board. Critics of the legislation said it didn’t go far enough, but lawmakers at the time called it a first step.
That package was followed by another during a 2021 special session, which centered around restrictions on no-knock warrants but also featured requirements for 911 operators to refer mental health crisis calls to non-police response teams. It also included a few million dollars in funding for body cameras, as well as community safety and youth violence intervention initiatives.
In both cases, the packages that passed were much smaller compromises than what was initially introduced, whittled down by lawmakers in the Senate, which was controlled by Republicans at the time.
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The reforms that have been passed are nowhere near enough, said Johnathon McClellan, who as president of the Minnesota Justice Coalition (MJC) has brought several police accountability proposals to lawmakers. Though most of the provisions that were passed, like restrictions on chokeholds and no-knock warrants, are to prevent deadly police encounters going forward, none of the provisions provide any avenues for accountability, he said.
“This is what the community wants, this is what they’ve been marching for and this is what we’ve been hoping for since May 25, 2020 (the day Floyd was killed),” he said. “Yet here we are today and the Legislature cannot point to one piece of legislation that provides accountability.”
Democrats won a majority of seats in both chambers during the midterm elections in November 2022, and DFL Gov. Tim Walz was also reelected. When the first legislative session with a DFL trifecta began in early 2023, McClellan said he and the coalition brought those proposals to lawmakers, like ending qualified immunity, removing the statute of limitations on wrongful death lawsuits against officers and making it so convicted law enforcement officers lose the tax-funded portions of their pensions.
But, he said, there has been no appetite among legislative leaders for more progressive police reform legislation.
“Everyone went quiet and a lot of people that used the name of George Floyd and others who lost their lives to police violence as part of their campaign slogans or literature or as part of their speeches, those people are nowhere to be found,” he said.
In Congress, federal lawmakers in 2020 put together the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which boosts body camera use by officers, bans most uses of no-knock warrants and chokeholds, and puts limits on the use of qualified immunity, among other provisions. The legislation passed in the Democrat-controlled House in 2021 but stalled in the Senate.
There was a push to revive the bill following the death of Tyre Nichols, who died days after a violent traffic stop where five Memphis police officers repeatedly beat and kicked the 29-year-old Black man. But the bill remains tabled to this day.
As years pass, corporate promises dwindle
Some Black business owners have seen a decrease in the number of partnerships and sponsorships that flooded in immediately after George Floyd was killed – and the subsequent uprisings – according to local business owner and media personality Sheletta Brundidge.
“Some companies based here in the Twin Cities invested in Black business owners only as long as someone was watching,” she said.
Many parts of the world have returned to “business as usual,” said the owner of production company ShelettaMakesMeLaugh.com. In the first few years after George Floyd, Brundidge was sponsored by Target, General Mills, Bremer Bank, Comcast, UnitedHealthcare and other major corporations. Of those companies, Comcast, Bremer Bank and UnitedHealthcare are the only major companies that stuck around, she said.
“We have all seen a drop in our funding, in our partnerships, in our sponsorships now that we are four years out from George Floyd’s death,” Brundidge said. “There was some progress made but not the progress that we saw a year after he died, two years after he died, and even three years after he died.”
Even in those first years following Floyd’s death, it was a fight to hold companies accountable. Brundidge was only sponsored by Target, General Mills, and other companies in 2022 after she called out local corporations for not fulfilling promises made after Floyd’s murder. Now, once again, she said she’s been told by many companies that they are “going in a different direction.”
“We thought things would change,” Brundidge said of the promises made. “We hired staff. We went out and bought brick and mortar. We saw a boost in our partnerships, and we were overdelivering, and we were doing a good job and giving them more than what they paid for. Then came the day they were going to renew with us and some of them did not.”
In order to create lasting change, people need to take on the challenge together, Brundidge said. She pointed to Black Entrepreneurs Day at the state Capitol, a day when Black business owners converge in St. Paul at the State Capitol to speak with state legislators about support needed. This year was the second year the event was held, drawing around 500 people, she said.
The day is about having a seat at the table where decisions are made, Brundidge said.
“That’s the change,” she said. “The change is we’ve realized what we’re worth. The change is strength in numbers. The change is we’re coming out as a collective and saying, ‘Nope we’re not going back. We’re going to go join you over there.’”
Police in the Third Precinct
There hasn’t been a permanent post for police in the city’s Third Precinct since the former building was destroyed during the uprising that followed George Floyd’s murder. But, this year, plans are beginning to take form around the future of both the former building and a new Third Precinct location, though not without tension and debate.
After sitting empty and surrounded by barbed wire for four years, the city came to the Minneapolis City Council this year with a proposal to turn the former Third Precinct building at 3000 Minnehaha Ave. into a “democracy center.” This was met with pushback, as the city was only asking council for its proverbial blessing. Ultimately, council voted against approving the plan, asking the city to engage in broader community engagement before bringing a plan to them.
The city is moving forward with cleanup of the site this spring. Mayor Jacob Frey has said the city will also move forward with plans to continue community engagement about its proposal for a democracy center, despite not garnering council buy-in.
One thing that was decided by council last year was that police will not return to the former Third Precinct station, so the city’s new Office of Community Safety has been working to find a new building to house police. The office is considering two “community safety centers.” One permanent South Minneapolis Community Safety Center will house police at a building on 2633 Minnehaha Ave., though the city has yet to close on this property. Another temporary Lake Street Safety Center that will be smaller, has yet to have a location announced and will only have funding for around two years, but also will not house police.
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Unlike plans for 3000 Minnehaha, spring community outreach and discussions around these community safety centers have included a broad range of possibilities including addiction services, food security programs, mental health resources, youth programming, harm reduction programming and economic support. Discussions started at the end of March and will close this Friday so the city can compile what it’s heard from area residents, said Director of Community Safety Design and Implementation Amanda Harrington during a Wednesday engagement session.
The Office of Community Safety is a relatively new department in Minneapolis, as is Harrington’s role in it.
“When I say that I have been brought on board to deal with design and implementation, what I’m designing is actually a community safety ecosystem,” Harrington said during the Wednesday meeting.
The office was created in 2022 during a government restructuring within the city. The office aims to collaborate and communicate between safety departments in the city that were previously run separately and worked independently of each other including 911, emergency management, fire, neighborhood safety and the police department.
“We’re all kind of figuring out how to work together because in the past, these departments have been really separate and have worked on their own,” Harrington said.
Deaths since George Floyd
While George Floyd’s killing placed a spotlight on Minneapolis and Minnesota, Floyd was not the first Black man to be killed at the hands of police and he wasn’t the last.
Black Americans remain more than twice as likely to be killed by police, according to the Mapping Police Violence project.
Unarmed Black residents who have been killed at the hands of police in Minnesota since George Floyd include: Dolal Idd in Minneapolis in December of 2020, Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center in April of 2021, Leneal Frazier in Minneapolis in July of 2021, Amir Locke in Minneapolis in February of 2022 and Ricky Cobb II in July of 2023.
Memorial at George Floyd Square
A Rise and Remember event organized by the George Floyd Global Memorial will be held at George Floyd Square at the corner of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue on Saturday. Events will happen all day, starting at 9 a.m. when Mari Mansfield will begin repainting the street mural listing people killed by police.
Worldwide Outreach for Christ will hold a prayer service at George Floyd Square with food available at noon. From 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., community members can receive free wellness services including bodywork, meditation and arts and crafts. The event will also include mutual aid offerings of food, clothing and household supplies.
The event will conclude with a 7 p.m. candlelight vigil.
Additional events throughout the weekend include a Memorialize the Movement event happening both Friday and Saturday at at 3140 Snelling Ave., St. Paul, and a Black Lives Matter Minnesota Justice Rally from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday at the corner of Lake Street and Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis.
Update: This story has been updated to reflect that Cargill was not one of Sheletta Brundidge’s sponsors after George Floyd’s murder.
Winter Keefer
Winter Keefer is MinnPost’s Metro reporter. Follow her on Twitter or email her at wkeefer@minnpost.com.
Mohamed Ibrahim
Mohamed Ibrahim is MinnPost’s environment and public safety reporter. He can be reached at mibrahim@minnpost.com.
