MINNEAPOLIS (March 6, 20210) — The Racial Justice Network, along with other grassroots advocacy groups will hold a silent march from 2 to 4 p.m. (CST) Sunday, March 7, 2021, starting from the People’s Plaza outside the Hennepin County Government Center, 300 S. 6th St., Minneapolis.
The march through downtown Minneapolis is to demand justice for George Floyd on the eve of jury selection in the criminal case against Derek Chauvin, the former police officer with the Minneapolis Police Department who is charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter in the May 25, 2020 killing of Floyd while he was detained.
The network is demanding convictions in the case of Chauvin and the other three officers involved in Floyd’s death, and an overhaul of the system of policing in Minneapolis, the state of Minnesota and across the country. In a statement the organization said “it is egregious that right before his death, George Floyd stated, ‘I Can’t Breathe,’ nearly 30 times to Minneapolis police officers Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao.”
Footage recorded by civilian bystanders showed a woman who identified herself as a registered nurse asking to take George Floyd’s pulse over 10 times. Three weeks before George Floyd’s death, Chauvin, Lane, and Kueng used the same deadly tactics when they wrongfully detained another Black man.
Even with the national and international scrutiny on Minneapolis and the entire state that followed, four Minnesotans have died at the hands of police since George Floyd; Dolal Idd was killed by MPD on Dec. 30, 2020, and three people lost their lives to police during the last week of February in Isanti and Wadena counties.
Tragically, over 405 Minnesotans’ lives have been taken by Minnesota law enforcement officers since 2000, and a disproportionate number of those individuals were Black, Brown, Native, Indigenous, Hispanic, Latinx and Asian. Derek Chauvin is the first white police officer in the history of Minnesota to be charged and tried in a court of law for the murder of a Black man despite a long history of violence by Minneapolis police toward the Black community.
“It is time to hold police accountable for their actions. Unfortunately, the systems and policies that are supposedly designed to do so, repeatedly fail. Significant changes are needed, such as an all-elected civilian police accountability council,” said Sonja Muus, member of the Racial Justice Network.
Participants are encouraged to wear all Black attire and to bring signs, flowers, and/or candles. Details can be found on our Facebook Event Page.
The Racial Justice Network (RJN) is a multi-racial, grassroots organization, committed to fighting for racial justice and building bridges across racial, social, and economic lines. https://www.racialjusticenetwork.com
