By: Jessica Wang

Three years ago, George Floyd was murdered whilst pleading for his life as a police officer knelt on his neck for nine minutes. This incident occurred when Floyd was suspected of using a counterfeited $20 bill while buying cigarettes from a convenience store. The scene was recorded on video and spread to millions of people who watched in outrage.

This incident lead to protests on police brutality and racial injustice, like the Black Lives Matter movement that happened in 2020. The movement impacted all social media, with people posting the all-black picture marked with the white letters “BLM” or a white-outlined fist raised in the air as an effort to create a more nondiscriminatory society.

After Floyd’s death, Minneapolis citizens lost trust in their local police force. The incident exposed the injustice and discrimination that occurred within the police force.

“I stay away from them [police] as far as I can,” said Mr. Johnson, an electric recycling businessman, whose trust was broken after watching the incident of Floyd. “White men and women, they don’t worry like we do,” he added. After inheriting a gun, Mr. Johnson plans to bring it everywhere with him because he worries about having to interact with the police.

On the cops’ side, a different point of view surfaces. Sergeant Andrew Schroeder from the fire department says that “the cops are tired of being called racist.” There are good cops that work in the Minneapolis Police Station. “We don’t focus on color, we focus on crime,” he continues.

However, Mook Thomas, a black mother with five kids, has other things to say. Ms. Thomas was pulled over by the Minneapolis police in 2022 for a broken headlight. She stated that “clearly both headlights were working, he was just harassing us, telling us we don’t belong over here.”

The dangerous part of this mistrust in the police force is that when citizens are in danger, they refuse to call the police. They avoid the people whose job it is to protect them.

Commander Wilks, a black officer, was on the verge of quitting her job after Floyd’s passing, but she stayed because she wanted to protect the city. She knew that it would take years for citizens to start trusting the police again, but the time would come. “We forget that there are bighearted, passionate humans that work every day for the community they signed up to serve,” she said.

The Minneapolis Police Department also says that they will be adding new regulations to officer training to prevent scenes like Floyd’s death. In addition, the officers who were causing most of the problems were involved in Floyd’s death and were already removed from the force and charged in multiple offenses.

Sources: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/17/us/minneapolis-voices-justice-department-report.html