In Minneapolis, momentum for change fizzling
City’s actions pleasing no one 6months after Floyd’s death
MINNEAPOLIS — The outcry that followed George Floyd’s death under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer surpassed anything Michelle Gross had seen in 30 years of pushing for police reform.
But six months later, the tragic momentum for change in that moment, she said, has been lost.
“It’s been a revelation to me, a disappointing revelation, to see how unwilling the mayor and the council have been to be real leaders in this,” said Gross, of Communities United Against Police Brutality.
The city’s elected leaders say they remain committed to changing the way the city runs its 150year-old police department and approaches public safety — a task that has proved difficult as residents make competing demands during an especially violent year.
It also has taxed the city’s staff and raised fresh questions about Minneapolis’ power structure.
“If people are encouraging us to move faster, I agree,” Mayor Jacob Frey
said.
While the city has made some policy changes — including those required by a court order — others need intense legal reviews and changes at other levels of government, he said.
Some on City Council are urging people to keep the faith and to give them time to sort out the 2021 budget in December.
Among other things, Frey’s budget proposal calls for boosting funding for the Office of Violence Prevention and adding an early warning system to flag officers who are struggling.
Council members will get to pitch their own proposals next week. Some are exploring a plan to have specially trained workers respond to mental health calls or increase
opportunities for civilian oversight. Some hope to further boost efforts to mediate conflicts in the community before they escalate into gunfire.
The overarching goal is to take a “public health approach to public safety,” council member Phillipe Cunningham has said.
Many of the activists who imagine a future without police will be watching closely as the council works through budget negotiations amid a financial crunch brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
Black Visions and its sister organization, Reclaim the Block, want council members to fulfill a pledge nine of them made this summer to “begin the process of ending the Minneapolis Police Department.” Some
were troubled when the council recently approved funding to bring in extra officers amid a shortage.
“I would say that after the murder of George Floyd this summer and after the uprising, the mayor and the council both had an opportunity and, I think, a mandate, to really, fundamentally (rethink) how we keep each other safe in this city,” said Lex Horan, an organizer with Reclaim the Block. “So far, we aren’t satisfied with either the mayor or the council.”
Some Black leaders say the campaign aimed at ending the police department has been detrimental to the city, sending a dangerous signal to criminals that police aren’t protecting property or residents.
Former council member Don Samuels, who’s suing the city over its police staffing levels, said he thought the pledge to end the department was “naive,” especially on the heels of rioting. People living in his North Side neighborhood felt ignored at the very time they feared for their safety.
“We all make big mistakes, right. We’re all learning,” Samuels said, “but the reluctance to pivot in the light of conflicting realities is just mind-boggling.”
Only 40 percent of Minneapolis residents favored reducing the size of the police force, according a Star Tribune/ MPR NEWS/KARE 11 Minnesota Poll conducted in August. Among Black residents in the city, opposition to cutting police officers reached 50 percent.
Steven Belton, president and CEO of the Urban League Twin Cities, said the council promised to listen to the community and keep people safe.
“We seem to have failed spectacularly in both,” he said.