Will the City of Minneapolis Ever Be The Same? (Part One)
Will The City of Minneapolis Ever Be the Same?
By: Elizabeth Powell
April 25, 2021
MINNEAPOLIS | On May 26, 2020, the City of Minneapolis changed forever.
It all started when Minneapolis police officer named Derek Chauvin pulled over a 46 year old African American man named George Floyd. Floyd was killed during the arrest as Chauvin knelt on his neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds, cutting off his airways. Chauvin was accompanied by three other officers who observed the killing.
After the killing of George Floyd, protests and riots erupted in the Minneapolis area which led to nationwide protests. By the end of June, a recorded 14,000 people were arrested in relation to the Black Lives Matter riots.
What do you picture in your head? A city full of flames? Streets full of glass? Businesses smashed to the ground? You're exactly right.
The main focus here, is what is left of the beautiful city of Minneapolis, Minnesota following the start of the Black Lives Matter riots.
How would you feel walking into a city burnt to the crisp like a piece of toast you left in toaster too long? I'd imagine it would be pretty heartbreaking. The riots brought total destruction to the city. A piece of artwork full of architecture, businesses, and homes were taken. Some people couldn't even go to the grocery store because they were burnt down to the foundation! Small businesses were destroyed. Their stores were broken and burned, their merchandise stolen or destroyed with the building, and no backbone to rebuild upon. A lot of hope within the city and for the city was lost.
In a first hand article, a Minneapolis medical practice named Broadway's Family Medicine expresses their feelings after the riots; a sense of loss and grief, being violated, and the forebonding sense of uncertainty about how they would continue to take care of their patients. Their practice was looted and vadalized during the riots. Even though they understood the extent of the situation they were left with nothing but to strive to rebuild and let the riots and looting make them stronger as a business. They were a lucky business in this case.
Not all small businesses in Minneapolis had the opportunity to rebuild, leaving them with hardly anything.
In addition, after the accusations of murder with the George Floyd case against 4 Minneapolis officers, the Minneapolis Police Departments Third Precint building was destroyed by arson. This was done by the citizens of Minneapolis in an act of payback by the mistreatment from the Minneapolis Police Department.
Burning of the Third Precint Building
The Minneaplis Police Department took a huge hit after these incidences. Nearly 200 officers have applied to leave the Minneapolis Police Department because of what they describe as post-traumatic stress. Officers are leaving, which leaves the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) in demand for new officers. The question is, who would want to enlist for a job in a police dpeartment that is under so much backlash? Hardly anyone would want to do that. Therefore, the MPD is struggling to keep afloat after the accusations and backalsh against their police department.
How is Minneapolis supposed to bounce back if their police force is suffering as well? Where is the structure and support supposed to come from? The citizens of Minneapolis were furious therefore couldn't work as one. Obviously they were not going to look to the police or authority in this situation. The riots caused destruction in every way possible.
Many argue that the destruction was justified. That the riots serve as justice for what happened to George Floyd and many others who lost their lives due to police brutality. Burning down a city will make citizens never forget what happened there. The contrversey between whether the destruction was ethical or not is ongoing.
More recently, on April 12, an officer fatally shot a black man during a traffic stop near Minneapolis. The officer reached for a taser as the man resisted arrest but ended up shooting him, leaving him grumbling in pain, killing him. The officer, Kim Potter, later proclaimed that she intended to reach for her taser, but reached for the gun instead and shot Daunte Wright.
As soon as the public discovered this, they rioted. Protests all in and around the Minneapolis area and all across the state began.
The killing of Daunte Wright proves that almost a year after the initial Black Lives Matter riots and protests over the killing of George Floyd, there are still incidences that spark them back up. The City of Minneapolis has had endless amounts of protests and riots which have only led to desuction and chaos within the city. Sadly, it will never end. There may be justice for the innocent lives killed but there is no justice for the poor city of Minneapolis. Minneapolis will never return to its beautiful self, it will serve as a graveyard from the Black Lives Matter era.
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