Derek Chauvin’s action did not happen in a vacuum, either. Floyd was only the latest in a long line of Black men and women mistreated, degraded or killed by law enforcement officers around the country, including several such incidents in Minneapolis. After Chauvin’s brazen violence, many in the Black community wondered out loud if police would ever be held accountable. Shortly after the Minneapolis Police Department police chief fired Chauvin and the other three officers involved in Floyd’s murder, Minneapolis police union leader Bob Kroll protested that they all should be reinstated.
This is the full picture of the crisis that Walz faced, that all of us face even now. Yes, there were protests, and riots that involved looting and burning. And there were more excesses by police: responding to verbal protests with rubber bullets, shoving and pepper-spraying journalists, and viciously beating another Black man, Jaleel Stallings, when he returned fire with a legally registered weapon after a SWAT team in an unmarked van shot marking rounds at him without identifying themselves as police. Anyone who focuses on the riots in isolation is ignoring all the other elements of this thorny, ongoing problem.
No, Minneapolis citizens should not be subjected to the violence and destruction of riots. But nor should they be in danger from the very people who are sworn to protect them. We all want the same things: safety, peace, justice. Some changes are slowly coming. The current MPD chief, Brian O’Hara, has said he wants to rebuild a respected police force that earns the trust of the community by being accountable for its actions. The Department of Justice is working on a consent decree to stop discrimination and the use of excessive force by the MPD.
The Minnesota Department of Human Rights reached a similar agreement with Minneapolis last year. That part of the Walz administration’s response to the big picture should have been included in the story as well. We should also remember that it’s not all on the governor’s shoulders. Problems and solutions have context, and we are that context.
We are not a vacuum. We are agents of change.
