A local activist group gathered enough signatures to trigger a ballot initiative that could clear the way for big changes in the police department. Some procedural hurdles remain.
Police in riot gear walk through a cloud of blue smoke as they advance on protesters in Minneapolis on May 30, 2020, five days after the death of George Floyd. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
MINNEAPOLIS (CN) Police abolitionists in Minneapolis may soon succeed in doing what elected officials could not in placing a charter amendment on the ballot that would fundamentally alter the department and could allow for total abolition.
Local election authorities verified Friday that the campaign for the charter amendment, Yes 4 Minneapolis, had acquired 14,101 valid signatures on its petition to put the proposal on ballots in the city’s November elections. They needed 11,906 signatures in favor of the proposal, which would create a new public safety department that would allow for, but not require, the inclusion
Why the Chauvin verdict didn’t feel like justice
The current criminal justice system is not equipped to provide real justice after police killings.
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Broadly, the reaction to the conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for George Floyd’s murder was one of relief.
“There’s a saying among Black folks,” Veela Ammons, a business consultant and coach based outside Chicago, told me. “It says, ‘It’s not justice, it’s just us.’ And so we thought it was going to be that kind of situation again where even though it was so plain to see, we thought, from anybody’s perspective that this man committed murder, we didn’t think that we would actually get that verdict.”
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As we’ve reported, a jury in Minneapolis has convicted former police officer Derek Chauvin on three counts of murdering George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds last May. He’s the first white police officer in Minnesota to ever be convicted of killing a Black person. The jury reached its decision after 10 hours of deliberation. Judge Peter Cahill revoked Chauvin’s bail and will sentence him in two months. He faces up to 40 years in prison for the most serious charge, second-degree murder.
Cartoon by Suerynn Lee
Clark had known Floyd, and had looked up to him as a mentorââmy big homie,â he called him. They had often talked to each other at El Nuevo Rodeo, a club where Floyd had worked as a security guard. Clark told me that Floyd had urged him to be more involved in the neighborhood, and to more consciously exercise a positive influence on its youth: âHe used to tell me to use my voiceâthatâs what he always said. Having tattoos on my face, people get the wrong impression. Thatâs what I loved about George. He told me, âAs soon as you start talkingâthatâs when theyâre gonna see you.â People donât know George. I needed those talks he gave me.â