What has changed since the murder of George Floyd 5 years ago?

Some things have changed for the better in Minneapolis since Memorial Day 2020, the day a police officer murdered George Floyd. Others have not.

Sunday marked five years since white officer Derek Chauvin used his knee to pin the Black man's neck to the pavement for nine and a half minutes, resulting in his death.

A tidal wave of racial justice protests has erupted in American cities. Demonstrators chanted Floyd's last words: "I can't breathe." The demonstrations were initially peaceful, but some have turned violent, and some Minneapolis neighborhoods have yet to recover from riots, looting, and arson. The city is still struggling to decide the fate of the intersection where Floyd was killed.

The Minneapolis Police Department has undergone court-supervised changes aimed at reducing racial disparities. Violent crime, which spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic and after Floyd's death, has mostly returned to pre-pandemic levels, although homicides are up slightly.

A place of pilgrimage

The intersection where a crowd of concerned onlookers urged Chauvin and other officers to listen to the cries of the dying Floyd quickly became George Floyd Square.

A large sculpture of a clenched fist is just one of the tributes to Floyd. He died just steps from the Cup Foods grocery store, since renamed Unity Foods. The neighborhood attracts visitors from around the world.

Last week, Alfred “AJ” Flowers Jr., a local activist, was in attendance. He said the police killings of young Black men before Floyd’s murder only fueled the frustration and rage that exploded in the streets five years ago.

It is significant that the Black community tends to congregate “where we die, whether by our own hands or from police violence,” Flowers said.

The fate of George Floyd Square

A majority of city council members support building a pedestrian mall where Floyd took his last breath, but Mayor Jacob Frey and many property owners and business owners oppose the idea of ​​closing the area to all vehicles. A final decision is still far from being made.

Meanwhile, local businesses are struggling and crime remains high.

Flowers urged officials to increase support for Black-owned businesses, housing, education and crime prevention to improve the local economy.

The shell of the 3rd District police station, which burned during the 2020 unrest, has been the subject of intense debate. Last month, the city council voted in favor of a plan to build a "Democracy Center" that would house constituent services and a community space.

The former police chief said he did not regret the decision to abandon the structure.

The end of “Defund the Police”

The "Defund the Police" slogan gained traction after Floyd's death, but it was never implemented. While a majority of city council members initially supported the idea, the bill proposed on the 2021 city council ballot was a more modest attempt to rethink policing. Voters rejected it.

The police force lost hundreds of officers as a result of the unrest. From nearly 900 at the beginning of 2020, their numbers have fallen to fewer than 600, due to retirements, disability, or deployments. The number of officers began to recover last year.

Officers are now reconnecting with the community in George Floyd Square, which became a "no-go zone" for police immediately after Floyd's death. Flowers acknowledged that "significant progress" has been made in community-police relations.

Police Chief Brian O'Hara said his "officers are beginning to heal."

"I think they are starting to be proud of what they do, to rediscover the reasons that led them to practice this profession," he told reporters last week.

Overhaul of police services

President Donald Trump's administration moved Wednesday to cancel agreements to overhaul police departments in Minneapolis and Louisville, Kentucky, both accused of widespread abuse.

Mr. Frey, the mayor, called the timing of the announcement "political theater," coming just a week before the anniversary of Floyd's killing.

National reform advocates also denounced the administration's decision. But Mr. O'Hara and Mr. Frey promised that Minneapolis would move forward, with or without the White House. The police department also operates under a consent decree with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights.

The executive order proposes to address race-based policing and enhance public safety by ensuring officers use only reasonable force, do not punish or retaliate, and de-escalate conflicts when possible, among other goals.

The mayor and police chief noted that Minneapolis received excellent marks in a report released Tuesday by a nonprofit that monitors cities' compliance with consent decrees.

Activists warned that Minneapolis had nothing to brag about.

“We understand this change takes time,” Michelle Gross, president of Communities United Against Police Brutality, said in a statement last week. “However, the progress the city claims is not being felt on the streets.”