In many ways, Minneapolis has shown us what is possible. Not simply the response of a mobilized, militant community, but also the lengths that a despotic administration will go to in order to increase its power and accomplish its racist policies.
Our humanity demands that we cease with claiming the evil in others without recognizing it in ourselves.
George Floyd's life was stolen from him, and his murder matters because of that. But the trajectory that took him from one formerly vibrant Black community to another then to an untimely death belongs to a larger story of systemic racial injustice.
The number of people killed by the police has risen every year since the murder of Mr. Floyd by a Minneapolis officer in 2020.
In the five years since Floyd's death, dozens of cities and states have passed bans on no-knock warrants, expanded crisis response teams and introduced civilian review boards — wins drowned out by public fatigue.
Act Up Against Bad Science (1990), Don’t Talk, Take Action! (1980), Racism Debunked, But for How Long? (1950), Speak Up, Memory! (2025), Protest and Serve (2020), National Institute of Health, R.I.P? (1930), Really Making Peru Great Again (1975)
The battle over diversity and inclusion has always been about labor. But Trump was able to frame it as something else.
A cell phone video of Eric Garner being choked to death by NYPD police, seen by millions, helped ignite calls for sweeping changes in policing. Garner's mother, Gwen Carr, is trying to sustain the national momentum for police reform.
Rereading The Fire Next Time after the death of Michael Brown, and then again after that of George Floyd, changed the book for me—because those events had changed me. I want my students to have that same opportunity in their own time, not just mine.
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