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TThe George Floyd uprising that began in Minneapolis introduced the police defunding lawsuit to the general public, empowered black-led anti-police violence movements across the globe, sparked policy changes in US cities. and, most importantly, built new organizations that have the ability to fight for long-term systemic change. The uprising also brought many positive reforms and developments to his hometown, including a move to defund the Minneapolis police department and redistribute funds to services with greater potential to eradicate both crime and poverty. Now, however, the Minneapolis and Minnesota governments are in the process of undoing that progress and moving in the opposite direction. The trial of Derek Chauvin, the officer who publicly killed 46-year-old George Floyd and inadvertently sparked what may have been the largest protest movement in American history, began this week. Rather than become more transparent and committed to undoing the anti-black image it has cultivated, the city of Minneapolis has rapidly transformed into a 21st-century police state, pushing even beyond the hypermilitarization and violence that already plague US citizens. police departments across the United States. WE.
For a time it seemed that Minneapolis was on a better path. A veto-proof majority of city councilors previously promised to dismantle the police department and build something better to replace it. Their attempts were thwarted by the Minneapolis Charter Commission, which closed a ballot initiative that would have given voters the opportunity to abolish the police department in favor of a proposed department of community safety and violence prevention. By this winter, the ambitions of summer had been replaced by a renewed commitment to the status quo. The police budget was cut by just $ 8 million, from a total budget of $ 179 million, and city council members and Mayor Jacob Frey rejected a proposal to modestly reduce the size of the police force. the world as a Justin Trudeau impersonator than as an elected official. While the cut is a step toward divestment from the police, it pales in comparison to the more genuinely radical rhetoric from the city council.
Part of the blame for this radical policy change lies in the city’s rising violent crime rate and the subsequent push by some within Minneapolis to increase police surveillance. This rise in crime has been seen across the country and may add fuel to fierce opposition to activism for the abolition of the police force. In fact, adding more police is almost never the real solution to rising crime rates, although it is often the first one cities seek. There is no conclusive evidence that the excessive surveillance of the 1990s and the rise in mass incarceration is what caused the decline in crime that occurred towards the end of that decade. A growing number of sociologists and other social scientists believe that there is an abundance of historical evidence showing that violent crime, particularly murder, is deeply correlated with political instability and a lack of faith in government institutions. Considering the pandemic and decades of unresolved social crises like police violence against blacks (only one Minnesota police officer has been convicted of service manslaughter in recent history), it should come as no surprise that public trust in government is near record lows. Increased police presence, especially in times of justified tension, will only continue this trend.
That appears to be the direction the state of Minnesota, and Minneapolis more specifically, is heading as they prepare for protests in response to a possible acquittal of another police officer caught executing someone on camera. Governor Tim Walz issued an order authorizing the dispatch of National Guard troops to Minneapolis at Frey’s request. The governor also proposed $ 35 million in state aid to fund the deployment of statewide police officers to support the Minneapolis Police Department in the event of “extraordinary public safety events.” The state is also coordinating with the FBI, the joint federal task force on terrorism, and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The Hennepin County Government Center, the site of the trial, is turning into a fortress. Several layers of high security barbed wire fences line the area around the center and some buildings around it; They are reinforced with large concrete barriers that, combined with up to 2,000 National Guard soldiers, give the impression that the city is prepared to fight its own people. Speaking to ABC News, Kandace Montgomery, current co-director of the local black liberation organization Black Visions, responded to the city’s preparations:
“While the people of Minneapolis and Minnesota are calling for justice, healing and care, state officials have been responding in some way by basically preparing to go to war with the people … So I think it is meant to be an intimidation tactic.” .
In possibly its most dystopian move, the city also wanted to pay social media influencers to share messages during the trial to avoid potential unrest. The city planned to give six influencers $ 2,000 a day each to combat “disinformation.” In January, the city approved more than $ 1 million to fund a communication strategy that would include community and influential organizations, specifically targeting “Black, Somali / East African, Native American, Hmong, and Hispanic” communities by sharing “messages. approved and generated by the city. ” – which local activists have compared to the Ghetto Whistleblower Program that Cointelpro used to thwart black movements in the 1960s. After the ire of community members, the influence plan has been scrapped, although the city he still plans to communicate with local leaders, excluding organizations like Black Visions, which helped popularize the demand to “defund the police.”
The people of Minneapolis are preparing for trial in their own way. Some organizers have already planned protests, while others are rebuilding mutual aid networks to support each other with grocery purchases and resources in the event of unrest. The Corcoran Neighborhood Organization is promoting text chains between neighbors and has started neighborhood patrols. Frey insists these preparations are unnecessary, but there is a great lack of faith in the city’s ability to keep the people safe, from the police and from white supremacists, who have occasionally taken advantage of moments of turmoil to attack the protesters, such as the 2015 Minneapolis shooting of five. White supremacist activists during protests over the police murder of Jamar Clark. The city’s plans so far appear to be more concerned with what have statistically been peaceful protests than the actual threat of white supremacist violence.
Instead of committing to police reform and transparency, or acknowledging the growing threat from the far right, the city of Minneapolis, in the words of Council Member Jeremiah Ellison, is “popping up ready for war.”
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Akin Olla is a Nigerian-American political strategist and organizer. He works as a coach for the Momentum Community and is the host of the This is The Revolution podcast.
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Miski Noor contributed research for this article.
