I was just a kid during the Civil Rights protests and marches. I was playing basketball in my white friend Mark’s driveway when I saw my mother running down the alley toward me. She wanted me back in our house. Someone had shot Martin Luther King, Jr. Protests and even riots took place all over the country. One week later, Congress passed the Fair Housing Act.
I was a little older at the height of the Vietnam War protests. My high school was two blocks from the University of Minnesota, then the largest college campus in the nation. Every day, I saw protest signs. I participated in a march from the U of M campus to downtown. Eventually, the war ended, with the protests playing no small part.
When the first George Floyd video was released, millions took to the streets worldwide. These crowds were different from the primarily Black protesters I’d seen during the Civil Rights Era and the mostly white Vietnam War protesters. Indeed, white people also fought and died for civil rights, and Black people protested the war, but there was a racial divide. When the George Floyd video came out, the crowd marching and demanding change looked like America, and for a brief time, it looked like change would come.
For the first time in my recollection, those being protested against had no immediate response. All of America had seen the almost-nine-minute video of George Floyd’s death with his whisper of, “I can’t breathe,” and lastly, calling for his mother. Police unions were silent; public officials condemned the act, and then-President Donald Trump issued a statement.
“I feel very, very badly. That’s a very shocking sight. That was a very, very bad thing that I saw. I saw it last night, and I didn’t like it…what I saw was not good. Very bad.” — Donald Trump
The protesters were consistent with their demands. They wanted Floyd’s killers convicted and demanded passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. There were calls to defund the police, which didn’t mean shutting down police forces but the reallocation of resources with a greater emphasis on mental health. A few communities immediately responded and initiated reviews of their departments.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara was hired the year following the protests in 2022. O’Hara focused on changing the department’s culture, emphasizing community engagement over militaristic tactics. Despite good intentions, O’hara became frustrated about how little he could accomplish.
“I naively thought that this was a place ready for change, and it just wasn’t,” he said.
As the protests continued for weeks (months in some cases), the opposition found their voice and, more importantly, their messaging. They attacked on all fronts, demeaning George Floyd the man, attacking Black Lives Matter and its founders. They filled the airways with alternative facts, insisting Floyd died of a drug overdose or preexisting medical conditions. We were told to disbelieve our lying eyes, instead latching onto any theory that would allow the truth to be ignored.
The protests were lumped together and characterized as BLM/Antifa riots. A few were violent, and those that were generally found the Proud Boys, Boogaloo Bois, and Oath Keepers in the middle, along with some Antifa supporters. The violence was typically white people against white people or white people setting fires, but the blame was centered on Black people. At night came a shift change; the families went home, and the other elements came out to play. The media described the protests as Black Lives Matter protests, though most of the participants, especially those bent on destruction, were white.
I liken the effort to minimize the George Floyd protests to the rewriting of the Civil War and the Lost Cause movement. The goals of the George Floyd movement were not being achieved. The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act never got a vote in the Senate. The meaning of Defund the Police was changed to the point it became an attack line, causing politicians of all stripes to run from it. The popularity of Black Lives Matter, which had risen to an all-time high, had dropped due to a persistent message revolving around communism, alleged mismanagement of funds, and charges of queer roots.
Still, there had to be some appeasement to quell the masses. Joe Biden was now the president. He gave Black America the compromise they didn’t know they wanted: Juneteenth. Though portions of the Black community had been asking for recognition of Juneteenth, the day enslaved people in Texas were told they were free, years after the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862 and a month after the Civil War ended, a greater number of Black people had little knowledge of Juneteenth. Juneteenth was the shiny object to distract from the larger mission. Combined with the demonization of George Floyd and Black Lives Matter, it worked. The demonstrations died out, Congressional action stopped, and funding increased for police, mental health not so much.
The George Floyd movement is all but dead. The site of his murder still gets a few dozen visitors daily. Cup Foods, who called the police on George Floyd, has a sign in the window letting everyone know they’re under new management. Pictures and graffiti are on every building within two blocks of 38th St and Chicago Ave. The #5 city bus has been rerouted as large vehicles can no longer pass through. The area is called The Free State of George Floyd; the street has an evergrowing list of victims of police violence.
Very little was accomplished after all was said and done due to the George Floyd Movement. No act was passed by Congress or signed by the president. The war being waged by police against minorities never ended. Police forces weren’t defunded. Donald Trump has returned to the White House and taken up a more familiar tone. He’s banned Black Lives Matter and Gay Pride flags from government buildings. Trump describes Black Lives Matter as a “symbol of hate.”
Since George Floyd’s murder in 2020, dozens more like him have died under suspicious circumstances at the hands of the police. Their names may be added to the list on Chicago Avenue, but there have been no mass protests in response. One of Trump’s first pardons went to two police officers who killed a Black man and covered it up. Two of the officers convicted after Floyd’s death have served brief sentences before their release. Derek Chauvin and his knee are still in jail, serving concurrent state and federal sentences for murder and violating Floyd’s civil rights. Don’t be surprised if Floyd gets a pardon on the federal charges.
God knows what it would take to see protesters similarly taking it to the streets. Many of the white protesters have had their moment and won’t be back unless something strikes them personally. The movement has become a moment. May it rest in peace.
This article originally appeared on Substack and is edited and republished with author's permission. Read more of William Spivey's work on Substack.