Protesters in Minneapolis, Minnesota, burned a police precinct in response to the death of George Floyd — killed by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin with a knee to the man’s neck, with three other officers.
The aftermath of the caught-on-video death of a Black man in police custody was marked by protests and looting, reflecting the frustration, anger, trauma and grief of a community facing systemic racism and demanding justice.
The events in Minneapolis are not unlike similar uprisings and rebellions in Baltimore following the death of Freddie Grey, Ferguson, Missouri, in the wake of the Mike Brown shooting death, Los Angeles following the not guilty verdict in the Rodney King beating trial, and elsewhere following the death of a black man, woman or child while in police custody.
In the 1960s, protest movements such as the Selma to Montgomery marches, and urban rebellions —- also known as race riots — in communities such as Detroit, Watts, Newark and elsewhere often were triggered by an act of police misconduct or brutality, the arrest of a Black resident or a death in police custody.
Pinkney, after noting how her attempts to hold Chauvin accountable for the interaction went nowhere, would continue, “This is the guy that you see on every stream, every Facebook page with his neck on the Black community, with his neck on George Floyd, and you wonder why these people are in a state of unrest, why there in a state of anger?
