Intersection where Floyd died could reopen after officer’s trial
MINNEAPOLIS — During a group’s recent meeting at the now-vacant Speedway gas station near where George Floyd died, children roasted marshmallows on a fire pit while adults discussed topics ranging from activism to snow removal.
“Black joy is a form of protest,” said Marcia Howard, one of the group’s organizers, referencing plans for celebrating Arctic explorer Matthew Henson as part of Black History Month.
But the agenda on this chilly Thursday morning in February quickly segued to more immediate concerns: Who would pick up skis and broomball sticks for an event being planned at a nearby park? And what’s to be done about the snow piling up at the site’s greenhouse that preserves plants left in Floyd’s memory?
Such is life at George Floyd Square, the place where former Minneapolis police Officer Derek
Chauvin pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for about nine minutes. Although many in the community consider the place where the Black man died to be a sacred space, it also has presented some headaches for the city.
The square sprang up organically in the days after Floyd’s death. As people gathered to express their grief and anger, including leaving offerings, community members set up barricades of refrigerators, trash cans and wooden pallets to block traffic. The city eventually replaced those with concrete barriers.
Amid concerns that the barricaded square was decimating businesses and making the neighborhood less safe at night, city leaders recently pledged to reopen it after Chauvin’s murder trial. Jury selection starts Monday, and the trial is expected to stretch into April.
The residents and activists who serve as unofficial leaders and organizers of George Floyd Square say they won’t step aside unless the city meets their list of 24 demands. Among them: recall the county prosecutor, fire the head of the state’s criminal investigative agency, and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on programs to create jobs, combat racism and support affordable housing. They also are demanding that the square remain closed until the trials scheduled for August of the other three officers charged in Floyd’s death.
Since the city asserted it would reopen the square after Chauvin’s trial, the caretakers of the space have declined to talk in detail about negotiations to reopen it. Jeanelle Austin, a racial justice leadership coach and a lead caretaker of the memorial area, said the demands that fall within the city’s control aren’t unreasonable.
“The thing about it is that a lot of the different demands are asks from different people, and Black folks aren’t monolithic,” said Austin, who is Black. “So it’s really incumbent upon our city leadership to really look at the needs behind the asks, and really fulfilling those needs.”
Mayor Jacob Frey and Police Chief Medaria Arradondo last month disputed frequent characterizations of the square as an “autonomous zone” but cited those perceptions as a major reason it must be reopened.
Andrea Jenkins, one of two City Council members representing parts of the neighborhood, said officers have been met with “protests, resistance, opposition” that have sometimes led them to avoid policing the area. Howard and other leaders dispute that anyone in the square has impeded officers.
Members of Howard’s group say that while they’re hoping Chauvin gets convicted, the occupation of the square is about far more than the case against him.
“Injustice closed these streets, and only justice can open them back up,” Howard said.