On May 25, 2020, George Floyd was murdered by four Minneapolis policemen in plain view of the public. I can call it murder because that was the determination in a court of law. A few days later, videos started appearing of the incident, the first of which did not come from the Minneapolis Police Department but from Facebook and Instagram. Seventeen-year-old Darnella Frazier posted a video she recorded on the scene. Releasing it after the Minneapolis Police Department issued a statement, “Man Dies After Medical Incident During Police Interaction.”
The video went viral worldwide, and the police had to change their story, immediately firing four officers involved. The person who issued the initial release said they hadn’t reviewed the video footage and had taken information from police sergeants on the scene. The City of Minneapolis took back control of issuing releases from the police department that previously issued their statements.
The video was graphic and showed Derek Chauvin with his knee on George Floyd’s throat for eight minutes and 46 seconds. Chauvin didn’t relent despite urgings from a crowd that gathered and utterances from Floyd saying, “I can’t breathe,” and cries to his mother. When the videos were released, they played relentlessly, and millions took to the streets to protest. First in major cities across America, then in smaller towns. The protests spread worldwide, and America had no good response to a situation that happens far too often with no change in sight.
What made the George Floyd protests unique in America was that the majority of the protesters were white. America was accustomed to dismissing Black and brown protesters, particularly when they were disrupting and sometimes damaging their own neighborhoods. I liken the George Floyd protests to Bacon’s Rebellion from 1676–1677. When Bacon was able to unite white indentured servants, Black indentured servants, and enslaved people against the Virginia governor, the entire economic model changed in America. Indentured servitude disappeared, and chattel slavery became the chief source of cheap (free) labor in America.
It appeared that the united group of protesters would effect change in America. There was no reasonable explanation why Derek Chauvin needed to keep his knee on Floyd’s throat. These protesters had specific demands like ending qualified immunity and reallocating resources to better address mental health issues. Police unions were generally silent, though they usually defend the worst police behavior. Governments were making promises of reform at every level, so five years later, what actually changed?
At the federal level, the Justice Department looked more closely at local policing. They looked at cities like Minneapolis, where Floyd was killed, and Louisville, where Breonna Taylor was killed in her home two months before Floyd. Many Justice Department investigations end with consent decrees with police departments agreeing to substantial changes while being monitored by the federal government. Minneapolis and Louisville entered into consent decrees, usually reviewed after five years. Several other investigations were underway.
The Trump administration recently ended several existing consent decrees without review and ended investigations into many departments before their conclusion. The federal government basically gave police departments free rein over their activities. Most attempts to remove qualified immunity on the federal level were rebuffed.
An example of local government attempts at reform is Houston, George Floyd’s hometown. In the aftermath of George Floyd, Houston established a 45-member task force, which recommended 106 reforms.
“That report, I think, will go down as one of the best in the country. It wasn’t just vague conversation and vague recommendations. Most of the recommendations — if not all of them — were evidence-based, but they also had mechanisms for measuring whether or not they were implemented and how well they were at achieving the intended goal.” — Howard Henderson-Texas Southern University
Five years later, few reforms were implemented. A spokesperson for Mayor John Whitmire said the mayor “is not looking back” and doesn’t know why some proposals weren’t carried out. Houston Police Department officials referred all questions they received about the reforms to the mayor’s office: Steven Wells, the South Main Baptist Church pastor, and one of the task force members. “Once we delivered a report to the mayor, our work was done. We didn’t have alumni reunions where we got together and say, ‘They should have done this or that.’ Our job was to present a report.” Is it too soon to conclude that white officials like Whitmire and Wells have washed their hands of the matter?
In Minneapolis, progress can be judged by “The Free State of George Floyd,” an impromptu street park at the corner of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue where George Floyd was killed. Immediately after the killing, people gathered there, drawing murals and posting signs.
People wrote the names of victims of police killings on the street, continually adding to it as the killings have not ceased.
I grew up approximately five blocks from where George Floyd was killed. From 7th to 12th grade, I attended school across town near the University of Minnesota and took the city bus, transferring once downtown. I usually took the 9B, catching it on 42nd Street and 4th Avenue. On the way home, I usually took the 9B, but if I just missed it, I often took the 5 bus, which ultimately ran down Chicago Avenue. I would pass the stores and businesses on 38th and Chicago, where Floyd was killed. In those days, Cup Foods, where Floyd attempted to pass a $20 bill, didn’t exist. A drug store was there, surrounded by a gas station and a few other businesses.
Since George Floyd, the #5 bus detours around 38th and Chicago, the bus stop across from Cup Foods has disappeared. When I visited the area almost two years ago, there was pedestrian foot traffic viewing the murals, the flowers, and the signs. I went into Cup Foods and bought a soda. There were a few customers. A sign on the door advised that they were under new management.
Shop owners and businesses complain about the bus's detour and the reduced non-tourist foot traffic. Nearby restaurants say nobody is in a dining mood after viewing the somber display. One mural proclaims that George Floyd changed the world, but did he?
The City of Minneapolis is considering what to do with the Free State of George Floyd. The City has officially named the park George Floyd Square, ignoring the people's name. Some residents are showing signs of hope.
“There’s a fundamental challenge that we face specifically in this neighborhood around what Black liberation looks like. And so there’s the idea that protest and conservation will give us liberation. I think fundamentally the business owners are on track where we believe economy and autonomy will lead to liberation.” — Ann Rice-PLOT Gallery
Marquise Bowie sometimes conducts tours while he wonders about the rationale of the tourists.
“If we’re only going somewhere to feel sad about a Black man getting killed, but we’re not doing anything to try to fix some of the issues, I don’t see that being a good thing, especially five years later,” — Marquise Bowie
The canceling of the consent decrees and investigations of police departments adds to the feeling that no substantive changes occurred over the past five years. Qualified immunity still exists in most places, and police-related killings have increased 38% since George Floyd, the highest increase among Black men.
Black Lives Matter (BLM) experienced a temporary flourish in exposure and donations until it became necessary to condemn them as an organization. They were associated with violence they did not commit, and their name was constantly linked to ANTIFA as if they were one and the same. Using the same tactics employed during the Civil Rights Movement, BLM was labeled a Marxist organization, and its leaders were condemned for reasons real and imagined.
I can think of one major change since George Floyd, though arguably, it changed nothing. Juneteenth was established as a federal holiday in 2021 to appease protesters. Given that Black people were already celebrating Juneteenth with cookouts and picnics, how much was truly changed? Hallmark Cards may have seen an increase in revenue, and one can buy Juneteenth hats and T-shirts.
On the downside, Black history has come under attack along with affirmative action and DEI programs designed to right historical wrongs. The irreparable harm comes from the allies who participated in the George Floyd protests, who believe they did their part and have checked out. America is now bringing in white refugees from South Africa while ignoring immigrants facing real harm. There has been real change since George Floyd, but how much has been for the better?
This post originally appeared on Medium and is edited and republished with author's permission. Read more of William Spivey's work on Medium. And if you dig his words, buy the man a coffee.