And if we keep depending on them to reform themselves, we’re going to keep having the same happen over and over. Would you join us and become a Sahan Sustainer now? What is that? It’s easy for them to stop one person, it’s easier for them to stop 100 people, 1000 people. The difference between first and second-degree ⦠A Chauvin conviction, they agreed, would represent an important step to showing that some kind of accountability exists for police. Theyâre calling their teachers out and saying, Do you know what’s going on March 8? One of my cousins serves in MPD. In Georgia, three white men were charged with murder after chasing Ahmaud Arbery, who had been jogging, through a neighborhood near Brunswick and then shooting him. She is captured on Mr. Cooperâs cellphone video saying, âIâm going to tell them thereâs an African-American man threatening my life.â. âYes, but itâs George Floyd who experienced the trauma, not us,â you may be thinking. Sahan Journal: Can you tell people how you knew George Floyd? All the names that we really don’t know, that didn’t even receive a trial. It gets a little harder when you actually know the person, because you know that wasn’t their character. For example, if you’re stopped by a cop, you’re in fear for your life. People were like, We want to see justice for George Floyd. George Floydâs family and attorney are pushing for a first-degree murder charge for Derek Chauvin. I know a lot of business owners are scared. âItâs the kind of thing where you donât hide from the truth. Derek Chauvin Blames His Former Colleagues for George Floyd's Death The former Minneapolis police officer, who kneeled on Floyd⦠Knowing him and seeing him weekly at the place I used to work, I actually haven’t been able to watch the video after I found out that it was him. We don’t want to be torn by what they’re going to say about Black Lives Matter, about Black people. All of the other cases didn’t turn out the way that they wanted toâa good chunk of them didn’t. They’re only going to believe what they see and feel in reality. They’re like, How is this one going to be different? I was like, Oh, yeah! That’s a hard lifestyle, always looking over your shoulder: When is somebody coming to get you with their gun? D.A. At nighttime if I was a little intoxicated and I needed an Uber, he literally walked me outside. That you don’t have to be a certain class of person, to be a certain racial identity of person, that we all are receiving equal justice under our laws that we agree need to be in place. Jeffrey Bissoy-Mattis: There is a rich pipeline of Black talent in the Twin Cities. This person was another human being, not just another victim or another person that died from police brutality. Advertisement By the afternoon after Floydâs killing, CUP Foodsâ voicemail box was full. âThis is not just this one instance that we should be angry about,â he said. âThis isnât this one woman or this unique thing â this is a systemwide problem,â she said. Mohamed: I did security for a time downtown. I think the youth have been so brilliant and so in tune. In the past I would have to embed a lesson where we would have this conversation. We carry all that trauma collectively, regardless of the circumstances of how they had that interaction with police. The death of George Floyd: What video and other records show about his final minutes. And every time I’ll come in he would always be respectfulânot only to me but whoever I’m with, and everyone else in there. The same people who have vowed to protect the community are the same people who are saying, Well, we hope that you guys have a situation where you need to call the cops and we’re not going to come. I think my instinctual body wants individual justice handed down. He took the life of another man, which is one of the biggest crimes. That investment is what is going to protect us and our buildings, regardless of what traumatic incident comes our way. For the cityâs Black, brown, and Indigenous residents, âjustice delayedâ has been all too common, especially in police brutality cases. What’s been on your mind as we’re coming up to this trial for Derek Chauvin? an emotional interview with reporters on Facebook Live, announcing that the officers had been fired, official police versions of events that diverge greatly from what later appears on videotape, Read more on the Minneapolis Police and the death of George Floyd, Read the criminal complaint against Derek Chauvin, On May 25, 2020, Minneapolis police officers arrested. That is why we rely on the generosity of readers like you to support our nonprofit newsroom. Marian: It’s really cute. And I’m very heartened by that because my faith in the system is at an all-time low. And we’ve all heard not all cops are bad cops. All you guys saying the same thing should have been out of the police department from the get-go. If justice is not served, I think the city should be afraid. Mr. Floyd died after Derek Chauvin, one of the police officers, handcuffed him and pinned him to the ground with a knee. Large demonstrations happened in South Korea, the United Kingdom, Turkey, New Zealand and elsewhere, while activists in the U.S. notched some pretty major wins. Or invest it in Marian and her classroom, and have an opportunity for them to build and connect. They’re like, We need to have a say. You canât even look at me like a man because you a bum, bro. Change is not going to be able to be tucked behind reform language. I want all of them to pay for what they did. To see him brought to justice in this case is for him to go to jail and pay for his crime. is conducting a federal civil rights investigation into Mr. Floydâs death, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said in a statement. But if there’s tens of thousands of us all over, it’s going to be very hard for them to stop us and to put a stop to our fight for justice. Please, man,â Mr. Floyd, who worked as a security guard at a local restaurant, said at one point. And across the city, people waited in uneasy tension to see what would happen next. A judge on Thursday granted prosecutorsâ request to reinstate a third-degree murder charge against former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is accused of killing George Floyd ⦠Bullock: I love hearing that. You lean into it because our city is going to be better off for it.â. Proudly powered by Newspack by Automattic, D.A. âIt was malicious. I have kids who are planning on going to the silent marches, who are making posters, who are already being involved here at the high school. I have students from Eden Prairie who’ve lived in Eden Prairie. Eliza Orlins, a public defender who is running for Manhattan district attorney, said 911 calls had led to some of her clients being held in jail, where being locked up for even a day can produce devastating results. Surveillance videos later showed Mr. Arbery walking into a house that was under construction but not taking anything. How do you in your right mind say, The evidence is here, this is what happened, we all saw it. 651-297-1304 or 1-800-657-3504 They want to show that sense of power. Act now and keep it local. There was no physical evidence that George Floyd was murdered by a cop. That should be unacceptable from this point on. They’re still talking about how hard it is to make a case against a police officer. People are going to need to process through trauma and process through a lot of healing. We’re in that weird middle of having hope, but gearing for the worst. Because it’s a reality in America for the worst to be a very high possibility. ], Bystander Videos of George Floyd and Others Are Policing the Police. The leaders that have been elected have to be held accountable to the city, to the community that put them there. The George Floyd protests are an ongoing series of police brutality protests that began in Minneapolis in the United States on May 26, 2020. Mohamed: For me, I would definitely want to see Chauvin be brought to justice and be held responsible for his actions. civil rights investigation and the firing of a police officer and three colleagues. Justice means a path forward, which means we’re building something from the ground up that really speaks to public safety for everyone. And I think that’s important, that we need to hold them to the same standards. âJustice for George Floydâ signs still line front yards, windows, and murals on the sides of buildings. And the system sort of prescribes what that interaction has to be. But a judge quickly ordered a pause in jury selection at least for the rest of the day, while waiting for an appeals court ruling on the potential repercussions of reinstating a third-degree murder charge. A lot of kids who live in Minneapolis are like, We want justice but at the same time we don’t want to be torn down by what the media is going to say about George. We need to take away that narrative of, they are untouchable. Bullock: Yeah, I think it is important to mention the history, from Jamar Clark to Terrance Franklin to Thurman Blevins and Chiasher Vue. He appeared to be âsuffering medical distress,â according to the police statement released on Monday night after an ambulance was called to the scene. Or call us at 651-983-1550. So to me justice is really about the vision of our path forward. We want to hear from you. Sahan Journal: Cesia, you knew George Floyd and then you helped protect Lake Street after the civil unrest. Sahan Journal: Let’s start with an overview of how people are feeling and what people are thinking about. We want to see Chauvin pay for his crime. Why would you hope the worst on your community that you have said to serve? There is no gray there.â, Arrested man: [moaning] âWhat you trying to say?â Police officer: âRelax.â Arrested man: âMan, I canât breathe â my face ââ [inaudible] Police officer: âWhat do you want?â Arrested man: âI canât breathe!â Bystander 1: âHow long you all got to hold him down?â Unidentified speaker: âDonât do drugs, kids ââ Bystander 2: âThis ainât about drugs, bro.â [inaudible conversation] Bystander 2: âHe is human, bro.â Bystander 1: âHis nose ââ Bystander 2: â â right now bro, you know itâs broken. He was very attentive, respectful, nothing like some of the media people portray him at all. In my community we were together literally walking in the streets all over Cedar. The video clip laid bare, once again, a phenomenon of the cellphone era: official police versions of events that diverge greatly from what later appears on videotape. So I tell all my staff who this man was and some of them actually know him as well. But you have these police officers escalating these situations. âI refer to it as the George Floyd technique; thatâs what snuffed the life out of him and that cannot be a lawful technique,â Burris said, indicating the similarities between Quintoâs death and the death of Floyd, a Black man who yelled, âI canât breatheâ as a police officer placed a knee to his neck. Instead of saying, the community noticed that we need to do better, they got defensive. Would you join us and become a Sahan Sustainer now? Will Chauvin, who knelt on Floydâs neck for nine minutes on video for the world to see, be convicted of murder? So when all this happened, it really hurt me for him. While much of the national media focuses on the machinations of the court proceedings, we decided to focus our coverage on the people and communities who are most affected by what will happen. Bullock: I would also put out the challenge for those police officers like your cousin, like a lifetime friend of mine who passed away last yearâhe was a police officer all his professional life, Chicago police and Evanston police. Because people are not here to hurt each other. How many times have I been stopped for the same broken taillight that Philando Castile was stopped for? Sometimes people forget that this was an actual person that had people that loved him. They arenât optimistic it will happen. You think about all these thoughts that normally you shouldn’t be having because they’re supposed to be protecting you. We anticipate people are going to have footage of the Minneapolis streets circulating again. It’s a protection of a handful of buildings, because they don’t want to be embarrassed and lose another police precinct. And our kids are hearing that too. I don’t like that people are considering us dangerous. Musab Hussein needed to rent a laptop to take a University of Minnesota exam. What do you think that is? There’s no standards or expectations that we hold our police officers to. [Read more on the Minneapolis Police and the death of George Floyd. I want him to be put away for the rest of his life. It would be to change up our police system. Marian Mohamed: Yes. A lot of people in my neighborhood that I meet mentioned, Hey, you know, we saw the barbed fences. The challenge I put to him was, âLook, you realize the weight and inertia of that system. As legal proceedings begin, Sahan Journal invited four diverse members of the community to a conversation about race, accountability, the need for change, and the social cost of injustice. The death of George Floyd, ... or actually bring the United States military into an American city, is unconscionable and may be illegal." Marian: They have all the tools to de-escalate. Online outrage focused on what could have happened and who would have been believed without the video. Minneapolis police said they were investigating an accusation of forgery on Monday night in the southern part of the city. [Read the criminal complaint against Derek Chauvin.]. The Wild Goose Chase: How one Latinaâs search for a COVID-19 vaccine became a bureaucratic nightmare. I feel like, especially my generation—I’m Generation X, I’m an old dude—we kind of failed. We talked a lot, even when I opened my business. It undermines public trust when we find out that law enforcement officials have covered up the truth.â. It sucks having to see them going through this, and feel all this hate and anger. Now imagine if we would have taken that $35 million, and invested that in Cesia so she could have some community meals every week. And a video of the fatal encounter was so horrifying it drew international outrage and increased pressure on the authorities to press charges against the man who fired the fatal shots; his father, who had participated in the chase; and the neighbor who filmed the video, who had joined the pursuit in his own vehicle. That means we don't put our essential journalism behind a paywall. It effectively transports jurors back in time to the scene of the alleged crime where they can watch events unfold as they happened, minute by minute and second by second. I love seeing how engaged my students are. And we did not embrace the moment to make sure that change actually happened. And it’s not 911; it’s not 311. Bullock: Weâve just got to do better than that. The younger generation especially, they’re fearless. Baires: I love dancing. May 30, 2020. It showed a white police officer pressing his knee into the neck of a black suspect until he appeared limp and unconscious. If we don’t get justice, we’re ready to maybe take it to the next step.â. The initial police account of the death of a Minneapolis man did not mention that an officerâs knee pinned him to the ground. We don't hide our community-centered reporting behind a paywall: We want it to be free for everyone. That’s how the condition is put upon you, based on poverty, based on not having housing stability, based on not having family stability, based on having love and care around you constantly. Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Credit: Photo collage Ben Hovland | Sahan Journal, Give $10 a month and Sahan Journal members will match it 12 timesÂ, Would you join us and become a Sahan Sustainer now. We see so many murders happening and so many police killings that it takes the humanity out of it. They’re going to treat you as if you’re a number-one enemy. But ⦠âI think itâs important that we are absolutely as transparent as possible,â he said in a Facebook Live interview with North News, a community newspaper in North Minneapolis. They are not afraid. âPlease, please, please I canât breathe. My students were born in 2005â2006, so they had Obama and they had Trump. How Quinto died makes this case important not just to Antioch, but to the nation. So you can burst into my door and assume that I’m the one who’s doing the wrong when somebody could be attacking me in my home, and I’m the one who called you? Mr. Garnerâs repeated plea of âI canât breatheâ â also recorded by a cellphone â became a rallying cry at demonstrations against police misconduct around the nation. Send us an email at contact@sahanjournal.com. Be as detailed as possible. Marian: I’m going to be honest, I want the man to rot in jail. I feel like a lot of people are preparing themselves for the worst and not having a lot of hopefulness about receiving true justice through the criminal justice system. How you as a goodhearted individual cannot change that sort of larger inertia.â. So, it’s not even true protection that we’re investing in. I feel like there’s a great deal of preparation and people know what they need to do for their neighbors. There have to be consequences, and we have to show that police officers are not above the so-called justice that they claim to protect and uphold. Sahan Journal publishes deep, reported news about immigrants and new Americansâthe kind of stories you wonât find anywhere else. Baires: Definitely. 651-201-3920 or 1-800-657-3903 In modern memory, no police officer in Minnesota has ever been convicted for killing a person of color. Can you tell us some of the things that have been most on your mind? It describes the boy as âphysically resistiveâ and says the officer âattempted to maintain control of the juvenile without his handcuffs and while alone.â. The Chicago Office of the Inspector General on Thursday put out a scathing report of the cityâs handling of civil unrest that erupted amid protests following the death of George Floyd And I hate that. And then all of this security apparatus is building us up to the disappointment of justice denied happening again. Build around the community and the people in the community. Bullock: I have noticed quite a bit of buildup around the razor wire and the concrete fencing and all of the preparation to protect buildings. What you should know. I have students who have immigrant families and parents, and they’re seeing America in a different light and they’re just drinking it up. Become a monthly donor today to help us continue to provide award-winning reporting to our community. This time I feel like the percentage of people watching this trial is a lot higher. Marian: I just think about how shitty, if I’m allowed to say that, how shitty it would be if justice isn’t served. George Floyd. They’re not going to believe that. It was hard for him because he’s like, âI’m looked at as if I am one of them, doing the same thing that they are doing, which is taking power in just wanting to kill people for no reason.â It was really painful for him to go through this, especially when he still had to go out during the riots and people are throwing rocks and hurting them while they’re just doing their job. They’re like, âThereâs like a 95 percent chance that we’re not going to get this justice, so we’re ready. It becomes harder to stand up because you’re just so used to it that you almost accept it. They’re going to treat you with a lot of hostility. It’s not easy to go out and, you know, be a shooter or commit crimes. And I think that’s something that we need to ask for as a community. âPlease, I canât breathe,â he said. Surya Saxena said to be finalist for Minnesotaâs next U.S. attorney. But I think justice for me would also be holding the city accountable. âThe death of George Floyd was the spark that spread across the world,â a protestor in Paris said in June. I find this new bodycam footage to be bad news, actually, because nearly everybody is convinced that Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd, but ⦠But I know justice, from our community, is about a path forward. And then when the community reacts, they expect you to be quiet. And just schooling them. Why? They got egotistical. The same old stuff that they’re trotting out currently. And they’re having these discussions, and they’re having better discussions than a lot of adults are having at the moment. And I’m already hearing some of that now. Ms. Cooper, who publicly apologized on Tuesday, was later terminated from her job at Franklin Templeton, an investment firm. Jurors literally become eyewitnesses. We really could be looking out for each other and protecting each other. The encounter drew comparisons to the case of Eric Garner, a black man who died in New York police custody in 2014, after a white officer held him in a chokehold. That’s all they know. Having a restaurant, Sunday is my day off. When this whole thing was happening, we saw people coming out to protect and stand up for what’s right. And I’m wondering how you see the relationship between that trial and a broader sense of what justice would look like. Even talking about how hard it is to make this case of murderâon a murder that we all witnessed on video. It means people are not living in these conditions where they are so desperate that their whole interaction with us socially is so twisted. George Floyd Baggie: Cocaine Arrests Record. For me, justice is to see consequences, to see not only Chauvin, but the other police officers that watched as that murder took place, for them to also get the consequences for their action. I love that. I don’t like that. I think people are starting to have an awakening: This is not about accountability for one officerâeven though Derek Chauvin and the other officers were the most culpable for the murder of George Floydâbut the whole system of policing. Let’s talk about it. He has committed a crime against George Floyd, against George Floyd’s family, against George Floyd’s friends, all the people that knew who George Floyd was. You know, the wires, all the blockades. A bystanderâs video in Minneapolis shows a police officer with his knee on Mr. Floydâs neck during an arrest. In my community, they’re going to be out in the streets, I’m going to be out there with them. So in my AVID classes we have been talking about how we are going to emotionally take care of ourselves during this whole thing. We failed the moment. Travis Jordan. They have every right to be upset. But also to make sure that they are there for each other, and that’s something that they don’t focus on. The way the city is preparing right now as if they already know the verdict is scaring a lot of people. Because what people don’t fully understand is that it is retraumatizing seeing those videos circulate again, seeing Derek’s face again. Bullock: Everything that Marian just said. An allegation of forgery. Because I feel like a lot of immigrants, and a lot of my students, are starting to think that the police are untouchable. Videos of police interactions with civilians, whether captured by the people involved or bystanders, now act as a central witness, often challenging official accounts. Marian: Mohamed said this really, really well. Last week, we invited a panel of community members to talk about how people are feeling and whatâs on their minds leading up to the trial—the first in what will become a regular series throughout the trial. More by Becky Z. Dernbach, If you have experienced or witnessed discrimination and bias, you should call 1-833-454-0148, COVID-19 HOTLINES: Let’s try and see if this man was really on something. Floyd was arrested five times in 20 years, his last cocaine arrest dates back in 2005. But hours later, a 10-minute video taken by a bystander was posted to Facebook, showing a different story than the first police statement or the subsequent update. Police officers arrived a short time after the 911 call but did not issue any summonses or make arrests. We know the system is going to say, yeah, you have all your First Amendment rights, and then they’re going to turn around and try to snatch those away from us immediately. Journalists from across the country have descended on Minneapolis to broadcast the trial to the world. These strangers come from different communities and perspectives, but, over Zoom, found common ground in what became an open-hearted and deeply felt discussion. Reclaim the Block and Black businesses are also helping in that and collaborating in that. âEvery bit of what I saw was wrong,â Jacob Frey, the mayor of Minneapolis, said in an emotional interview with reporters on Facebook Live shortly after announcing that the officers had been fired. I love that because I feel like true learning is when you grasp your own learning. A bystanderâs video shared widely on Tuesday showed an officer pressing his knee into Mr. Floydâs neck. It belongs to the community that lives in that city. Another episode over Memorial Day weekend led to similar discussions about how the police respond after black people are accused of crimes. civil rights investigation and the firing of the police officer and three colleagues who were also at the scene. Derek Chauvin, the individual who allegedly did some specific actions is on trial. That resulted in the woman calling 911 to report a nonexistent crime. They all have the theme of this fake power, this toxic masculinity. When undocumented means unvaccinated: Some COVID-19 vaccine sites demand U.S. government-issued IDs from eligible Minnesota immigrants seeking shots. I think people are fired up over that. By then he was motionless. And we see that in Cesia’s case: She knew this person personally. It’s this group of neighbors that you know is going to be there for you. It does, however, describe âneck compressionâ as a direct cause of Floydâs death â meaning the blood flow (and, thus, oxygen) to Floydâs brain and heart were cut off. They have a very healthy skepticism about receiving justice when it comes to police. So, a lot of them are in the dark, and they don’t know a lot of trial cases. Because they’re not afraid of police, they’re not afraid of the system. Thank you. And then I have some students in Minneapolis who are giving their perspective. A memorial in Minneapolis for George Floyd, who died after being taken into custody by the police. A special report traces George Floydâs journey from his impoverished Houston neighborhood to a search for redemption in Minneapolis. The ME released the autopsy report for Floyd on June 3. It doesn’t belong to any one mayor, it doesn’t belong to the police chief, it doesn’t belong to the city council people.