The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness

Amid complaints of violence, Minneapolis moves to reopen intersection where George Floyd was killed

A mural of George Floyd is seen in an area known as "George Floyd Square" in Minneapolis on Feb. 8. (Jim Mone/AP)

After another fatal shooting at the intersection where George Floyd was killed, Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo promised at a news conference Wednesday to increase law enforcement’s presence in the area, known as “George Floyd Square.”

“The current situation at 38th and Chicago is unacceptable and will not and must not be tolerated. Violence in any part of our city must be addressed, and those contributing to the harm of our neighborhoods have to be held accountable,” Arradondo said.

Tensions at the intersection have been heightened following two recent incidents: the shooting death of a volunteer at the square on March 7, and a police chase of a shooting suspect that went through the square and ended a few blocks away.

Other law enforcement officials stood by as Arradondo spoke, including acting U.S. attorney W. Anders Folk and Terry Henderson, the special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives field office in St. Paul. Both promised to dedicate resources and staff to support the chief’s drive to “restore peace” to the area.

“Make no doubt about it, yes, I’m putting folks on notice. We’re not going to tolerate folks feeling emboldened to harm and prey upon our community members,” Arradondo said.

The debate about policing in Minneapolis has been emotional and often divisive, especially in the neighborhood surrounding 38th Street and Chicago Avenue. Many residents reacted with dismay at what they considered a heavy-headed statement and a more aggressive tone by Arradondo. Meanwhile, the city — with much of its downtown boarded up, the courthouse surrounded by barricades and National Guard Humvees in the streets — is already tense with the prospect of a mistral or change of venue hanging over the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.

“Chief Arradondo is using the tension around the Chauvin trial to threaten community members holding space at George Floyd Square with a hostile invasion,” Asma Nizami, an advocacy director with Reviving Sisterhood, a nonprofit organization dedicated to amplifying the voices of Muslim women, told The Washington Post. “To have police once again violate the space in which one of their own officers murdered George Floyd is unconscionable.”

Others expressed relief that the city was finally taking action to address what they consider the “lawlessness” of the area.

“My first thought when I saw that was the chief is taking the decisive measure that I feel our elected officials have not taken for many months. And as I’ve talked to some of my neighbors, after what the chief said today, we felt heard,” said Monica Nilsson, 54, who recently wrote a letter to the editor in the Star Tribune newspaper describing what she views as the “devolution” of the square.

In the week after Floyd’s death on May 25, as protesters and unrest swept the city, volunteers staffed barricades at the intersections surrounding the intersection, which became known as George Floyd Square, or GFS.

Although it was primarily a memorial, drawing a steady stream of people from across the country and the world, it also became an occupation protest, in the spirit of past occupations following police shootings in Minnesota, and many viewed it as the epicenter of a new era of civil rights movement and reckoning over racism in the United States.

Organizers considered it a “revolutionary space,” and it became a center for food drives and public art as well as fevered discussions, with twice-daily meetings to talk about everything from mundane logistics involving portable toilets to larger ideas such as a “future without police.”

But as the crowds of outside visitors slowly dwindled, the area, like the city itself, experienced a significant increase in violent crime. A string of shootings occurred near the intersection over the summer, including that of Leneesha Columbus, 27, who was pregnant and who was killed by the baby’s father at the square on July 5.

By then, it had become common knowledge among residents that police avoided the area, responding only to the most serious calls inside the square, in some cases even reportedly asking volunteer medics to bring victims to them outside the barricades. Supporters began calling the area an “autonomous zone,” while detractors preferred “no-go zone.”

Although police wouldn’t confirm the policy publicly, they openly discussed it over scanner radio traffic, as reported by the Minnesota Reformer, a local news site.

In the news conference, Arradondo seemed to address this indirectly, saying that as chief, he refused to “abdicate one block, one city block to a group of individuals who choose violence over peace.” And although Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey had promised to reopen the square after the Chauvin trial, Arradondo said the timing of any police action would not be dictated by the legal proceedings.

Andy Brown, 35, lives two blocks away, has volunteered at the square since the summer. He viewed Arradondo’s statement as an escalation of rhetoric.

“Our ears perk up because he’s using language that they would use in a task force when they’re talking about bringing a gang down or organized crime. And I think anyone who has been to GFS and anyone who knows the ethos of our community knows we are anything but organized crime. We feed people, we clothe people, we share stories,” he said.

Abby Finis, 38, has lived in the neighborhood for 10 years. She said that although crime has increased in the city since last summer, she feels safer now because neighbors are more organized and better able to look after one another. She fears that progress is being overlooked.

"We don’t hear the other side of the story where the community really is coming together. We’re living in a community like none of us have lived in before, where we know so many of our neighbors and trust them, which is juxtaposed to this place that’s supposed to be, like, dangerous, violent, and it’s not if you leave your house and see what’s happening,“ Finis said.

Few understand the complexities of the neighborhood and its relationship with police as well as Steve Floyd. He is the co-founder of the Agape Movement, a community group that seeks to bridge the gap between communities and law enforcement, and has worked on violence prevention, de-escalation and gang outreach in South Minneapolis for more than four decades.

Agape has been a part of the fabric of George Floyd Square from the start. Its members, including former gang members with deep connections to the neighborhood, conducted community patrols, both to provide security and to de-escalate conflicts.

Floyd views the situation as “delicate,” and understands Arradondo’s desire to open the square. He hopes the chief proceeds cautiously, focusing on the “troublemakers” behind the violence as opposed to conducting a mass roundup.

“We don’t need the violence that’s taking place with innocent people getting shot down,” Floyd said. “It’s going to be a kid next time. We already had a pregnant woman killed.”

The recent uptick in violence has hit close to home for Steve Floyd. Imez Wright, the man killed in the shooting at the square last Friday, was working with Agape, having recently been hired by Change Inc., another affiliated nonprofit group.

Wright was from the neighborhood, and Floyd said that at the time of his death, he was trying to overcome a challenging environment and turn his life around. “People are really starting to get hurt, to die. The kid who got shot, he was one of our guys,” Floyd said.

For Nilsson, how and where Wright died speaks to the complexity of the moment facing the city, its residents and Arradondo in deciding what the future looks like for 38th and Chicago.

“It is a sacred place to some people, and it is a lawless place to some people,” she said. “It’s both in the same place. The 30-year-old man who was murdered by multiple gunshots a week ago Saturday died on the sidewalk at the same corner that George Floyd died. And so, he had mountains of flowers in his midst while he was murdered on the corner. And so it is both. And that is the challenge.”

Loading...