On the five-year anniversary of his murder, George Floyd’s family members urged hundreds of community members to remain united in the fight for racial justice.
“We need to be tighter, we need to be more unified. We need to stand in solidarity like never before,” said Angela Harrelson, Floyd’s aunt and closest relative living in the Twin Cities.
Attendees at Sunday evening’s candlelight vigil filled the intersection at E. 38th Street and Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis where Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police on May 25, 2020. The vigil began at a stage located in a church parking lot, with participants spilling into surrounding streets.
Harrelson co-chairs Rise and Remember, the nonprofit organization that organized a three-day festival honoring Floyd’s life.
“We have to love one another, forgive one another, and somehow, if you can’t, you have to find a way to let go so we can work towards healing,” she said.
Harrelson said she and others are still speaking out five years after Floyd was murdered, and will continue to do so.
“We are here, we are here to stay,” said Paris Stevens, Floyd’s cousin who also co-chairs Rise and Remember.
Other family members who have lost loved ones to police violence stood alongside Harrelson and Stevens on stage at George Floyd Square and also shared remarks.
Toshira Garraway, who leads Families Supporting Families Against Police Violence, urged community members to remember “all stolen lives.”
“When you think of George Floyd, remember us, remember the names that you’ve never heard of,” Garraway said.
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Attendees then lit candles and marched down Chicago Avenue, led by the Brass Solidarity band, which plays in the square weekly.
“This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine,” they sang as they turned onto E. 37th Street and entered Say Their Names cemetery, a symbolic cemetery with rows of cardboard headstones that commemorate those killed by police.
Attendees stood among the headstones, prayed and sang. Some wiped away tears.
Jeanelle Austin, the executive director of Rise and Remember, told the crowd to never forget the events of 2020, and to continue fighting for justice.
“This can’t just be a one-time-a-year thing,” she said.
Sunday’s events began hours earlier with a church service, gospel concert and street festival. Attendees said the anniversary was an opportunity to build community and support others who have been impacted by police violence.
“It’s coming together as a community, continuing to remember, and not forgetting,” said attendee Victoria Seamon, who works as a mental health clinician a few blocks away from the area.
Fresh flowers and stuffed animals adorned the memorial Sunday as attendees took photos and videos. Attendees danced early Sunday evening to the sounds of a live gospel concert held across the street from where Floyd died. Food vendors and tables featuring nonprofit racial justice organizations lined the streets.
North Minneapolis resident Penny Jacox said she attended the memorial to support her friend, Karen Wells, whose son, Amir Locke, was shot and killed by Minneapolis police in 2022.
Jacox pointed to an exhibit of sneakers that lines Chicago Avenue, which features shoes that belonged to those who have been killed by the police.
“Until George Floyd was killed in front of everybody’s eyes, people didn’t even contemplate that that could happen,” she said of police violence. “But if you were from a certain community, in the Black community, you knew that happened every day.”
Floyd was killed on May 25, 2020, after four Minneapolis police officers responded to a report that he had allegedly used a counterfeit $20 bill at Cup Foods, a corner store that has since been renamed under new ownership.
Then-officer Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes as he said he couldn’t breathe and pleaded for his life. Two other officers, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng, helped hold down the rest of Floyd’s body stomach-down in the street. Another officer, Tou Thao, kept bystanders back as they screamed for the officers to get off of Floyd.
A video taken by bystander, Darnella Frazier spread rapidly online, prompting millions of people to protest across the world. The four officers were all eventually convicted in state and federal court for their crimes.
Stone Blake spent part of his Sunday at nearby Phelps Park looking at a display of murals painted on plywood boards that had been nailed over local businesses to protect them during local protests in 2020. Blake, who lives across from the park, grew up attending protests and rallies in Los Angeles, and remembers when Rodney King, a Black motorist, was violently beaten by police officers in 1991.
The five-year anniversary of Floyd’s murder serves as an opportunity to remember others who have been killed by police, including Daunte Wright and Winston Smith, said Blake, who was friends with Smith.
“You can’t just think about one splinter when you’ve got like seven of them in your hand at the same time,” he said. “You think about them all.”
Some attendees said Sunday that they haven’t seen enough change when it comes to police accountability and racial justice in the city and the country.
“I feel like there’s never enough change,” Seamon said. “Black individuals are still being murdered, killed or just not fairly treated every day. So there is still a lot of work left to be done.”
Blake pointed to the shooting of Davis Moturi, a Black south Minneapolis resident who was shot and injured by his white neighbor, John Sawchak, last year. Moturi reported Sawchak to police several times before the shooting for harassment and threats, but Sawchak wasn’t arrested. It took police five days to arrest Sawchak after the shooting.
“What do we do here in Minnesota that stops that kind of behavior from happening? Nothing,” Blake said.
People must apply pressure on elected officials and show up to local government meetings and advocate for change, he said.
“People can protest. They can block freeways, they can have signs, but they don’t want to do the hard work,” Blake said.
