Minneapolis' George Floyd Square is a Reminder of How Far We Still Have to Go
A monument punctuated by the raised fist of the Black Lives Matter movement marks the northern entrance into George Perry Floyd Square
The events of May 25, 2020, when a former Minneapolis police officer put his knee on a man’s neck and kept it there until he could no longer breathe, and the summer that followed, when millions marched in the streets of cities not just across the United States but all around the globe — amid a worldwide pandemic the likes of which hadn’t been seen in a century, no less — created a chapter in our collective history that won’t soon be forgotten.
Only a few years removed from the Colin Kaepernick-led NFL protests, in which the former San Francisco quarterback initially sat and then knelt during the playing of the national anthem to protest police brutality, creating an uproar among people who purport to call themselves “patriots” and a cacophony of cries saying it was “not the right way to protest”, the marches and demonstrations and rallies of the Black Lives Matter movement of the summer of 2020 were a boiling-over point for people who had truly seen enough.
Plenty of others — too many others — including Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, both of whom were unjustly killed in early 2020, provided some of the impetus, but it was George Floyd’s murder at the hands of Derek Chauvin, who would ultimately be convicted of third-degree murder, second-degree manslaughter, and other charges, that proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Today, at the site where Floyd was killed, at the intersection of Chicago Avenue and E. 38th Street in Minneapolis’ Powderhorn Park neighborhood, reminders of what happened on that fateful May 2020 day, along with the movement that rose up in his name and the names of so many other Black Americans whose lives were taken too soon, are everywhere. Officially designated George Perry Floyd Square by the city in 2022, the multi-block memorial is a place for reflection and self-examination, and serves as a call to action for how much further we have to go as a country to combat racism.
The following are photos I took at George Floyd Square during a visit in early October 2023, less than a week before what would have been Floyd’s 50th birthday.
The city of Minneapolis officially designated the stretch of Chicago Avenue between E. 37th and E. 39th streets “George Floyd Perry Square” in 2022
Messages and slogans connected to the Black Lives Matter movement can be found all through the square
Independent journalist and activist KingDemetrius Pendleton’s work covering the Minneapolis protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death is on display in his studio space just across the street from Unity Foods, formerly Cup Foods, where Floyd was killed
In addition to the images he’s captured over the last few years, Pendleton is also the founder of Listen Media USA, an organization dedicated to documenting the Black perspective
More items on display at Pendleton’s studio, all of which come with their own story (which he will gladly tell you, if you ask)
A former gas station across from Unity Foods, where Floyd was killed, has been transformed into a testament of the power of people
The words up top say it all
A mural bearing George Floyd’s likeness is painted on the outside of Unity Foods
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”
A faded photo of Floyd sits among other items of remembrance as part of the memorial directly in front of Unity Foods
Unity Foods, formerly Cup Foods, at the center of George Floyd Square is operated under a new name and new management since George Floyd’s murder
The names of unjustly killed Black Americans are painted along Chicago Avenue in George Floyd Square
Not much I can add here..
The “Say Their Names” cemetery was created shortly after Floyd’s death by artists Connor Wright and Anna Barber to honor “the innumerable Black lives cut short by police brutality”
Inside Unity Foods: a local newspaper highlights the story of college football’s Deion Sanders, who is bringing unapologetic Blackness to the highest level of the sport
-LTH