Good morning. Five years ago today, George Floydwas murdered by a Minneapolis police officer, which sparked worldwide protests over police brutality and racism. To reflect on what happened and examine what has changed since, Morning Edition returned to where it all started.
By now we all know what happened. A Black man named George Floyd was accused of using a counterfeit $20 bill to buy cigarettes at a convenience store in Minneapolis. Police were called, and a white officer named Derek Chauvin killed Floyd by kneeling on his neck for 9 and a half minutes while he was handcuffed face down in the street. Two other officers helped restrain Floyd. A fourth kept onlookers from intervening. All were eventually fired and sent to prison.
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Days of protests against police violence ensued. Many were peaceful, some were not. One estimate found it was the first “civil disorder event” to result in more than $1 billion in losses.
Five years later, many of us are still trying to wrap our heads around why it happened, and just as importantly, what those tragic and frightening words and days mean to us now.
That’s why a group of us from Morning Edition spent the week in the Twin Cities, driving and walking around, listening and talking, asking people for their thoughts about what they think the events of May 2020 meant. We spoke with people from different backgrounds: ministers, activists, educators, a business owner who is still trying to make a living on the street where Floyd was killed and having a tough go of it.
We talked with officials like Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. We spoke with the former police chief, Medaria Arradondo, known as Chief Rondo, who made the decision to pull his officers back from the Third Police Precinct and request the governor send in the National Guard as the protests became more violent. It’s a decision that remains controversial: critics say he let the protests get out of hand; he says property was lost but lives were saved.
We talked with attorney Benjamin Crump, a veteran of many police misconduct cases dating back years, who negotiated a large settlement for Floyd’s family in a civil action, and lawyer Antonio Romanucci, who represented one of the bystanders who begged the police to get off Floyd’s neck.
One thing that became clear to me – something that had not occurred to me before our visit – is that because of the cell phone video that a young teenager took, we are all witnesses, at least if we chose to look.
And that means all of us who chose to look have decisions to make about how we think about what happened here.
After Floyd’s death, there were lots of big gestures. Companies made donations. Governments made commitments. Some police departments reformed policies. Some states passed new laws. Lawsuits were filed. Settlements reached. But could this still happen again? It's a question that doesn’t belong to just one city or town. It belongs, in one way or another, to all of us.
Related:
An intersection in Minneapolis has become a memorial to Floyd. However, some in the community are ready to move forward. Activists talk about this nuanced but universal question: How does a community reckon with its past and confront its future? Check out photos from the intersection and more here.
Librettist Herbert Martin, who initiated Adolphus Hailstork's 2022 requiem cantata A Knee on the Neck, a tribute to Floyd, five years ago, reflects on how his murder has impacted today. Listen to what he had to say and snippets from the musical piece.
Check out more of our favorite reads from this week:
The luxury jetliner from Qatar, which is slated to become a new Air Force One, could take years and millions of dollars to overhaul. Here’s a breakdown of what it will take to transform it, accompanied by graphics.
Despite controversy over Afrikaners' refugee status, Welcome House Raleigh, a Baptist ministry in North Carolina, says they have a religious duty to help settle them in the U.S. And in case you missed it, here’s what happened when the South African President and his delegation met with President Trump at the White House on Wednesday.
Wall Street just had another volatile week, as the looming national deficit worsens investors' outlook about the United States and its standing in the world. Investors are selling off bonds from the U.S. government, as part of a trade known as "Sell America." Here’s why it’s trending.
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Podcast Club
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Thanks for tuning in last week to NPR’s Throughline episode “California's 'Bum Blockade.'” The podcast discussed the story of the Los Angeles police chief who, faced with one of the largest internal migrations in American history, tried to close California's borders to stop it.
Today, we’re listening to Consider This from NPR. “Advice for navigating a volatile economy” discusses how millions of Americans are now facing repaying federal student loans at a time of unpredictable inflation, uncertainty in the U.S. economy, and high food and cost-of-living expenses. It can feel hard to manage. Mandi Woodruff-Santos, a long-time financial journalist, answers some budget-related questions and talks about how to manage new expenses along with your current ones. Listen to the episode or read the transcript here.
In today’s episode of The Sunday Story from Up First, members of the Class of 2025 discuss how they feel about the state of higher education, especially with changes since President Trump took office, and their own futures.
Supermarket brands
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It's time for the Sunday Puzzle! For today's on-air challenge, Will Shortz will give you some words. And your job is to change one letter to get the brand name of something you might find at a supermarket. For example, Bouncy (paper towels) could change to Bounty. Test your skills here. Check this page later to hear the answers, or catch them live on Weekend Edition at 8:41 a.m.
This week's online challenge comes from listener Ed Pegg Jr. The country duo Montgomery Gentry and the classic song Go On With The Wedding have a very unusual wordplay property in common. What is it? Submit your answer and you could win a chance to play in next Sunday's on-air puzzle.
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