Holding onto Hope: Reflections From a Minneapolis-Based AU Student

Photo by Xena Goldman

by Ali Shafi

On May 25th, Minneapolis police officers arrested and subsequently killed George Floyd, a 46-year old black man. While Floyd's death hurt the community, it sent shockwaves throughout the country and reinvigorated the generational frustration and anger that many Americans, especially Black Americans, had been feeling for centuries. The murder of George Floyd and its impact on the City of Lakes served as an example to the murders of numerous Black people at the hands of the modern police system. Floyd’s killing is reminiscent of Eric Garner’s, whose pleas for life started that “I Can’t Breathe” movement that has resurfaced in these protests, and the more recent murders of Breonna Taylor by the Louisville Metro Police Department and Ahmaud Arbery by a former Glynn County police officer and his son. Though anti-Black crimes plague this country as a whole, Minneapolis carries their mourning with the death of many others who have suffered under the weight of the Minneapolis Police Department. 

Jada Olsen is a Frederick Douglass Distinguished Scholar at American University majoring in Sociology with a double minor in Communications and African-American Studies. She heard about the news of Floyd's murder upon waking up in her Minneapolis home. "I was at home in my bed. I immediately got up to tell my parents and my brother, and we all sat together in shock and disgust at what had happened. My initial reaction was full-send grief."

Floyd’s death followed a cycle of grief and trauma for the city. In 2015, Jamar Clark was shot by MPD after he approached an ambulance to check on his injured girlfriend. It was not until Clark was arrested and a paramedic supervisor had a knee on Clark's chest that he was shot. Similar to the aftermath of Floyd’s death, Black youth and local organizations protested outside the police precinct of shooters Mark Ringgenberg and Dustin Schwarze. However, in 2016 it was announced that no charges would be filed against the officers. In the same year, Philando Castile was pulled over and shot five times with his partner and daughter in the car. Despite protests by the community and Black Lives Matter, the shooter Jeronimo Yanez was acquitted of all charges including manslaughter. With this context, and a longer history of police violence against Black bodies, Olsen claims there are high levels of tension between the Black community and police officers, and Floyd's death only serves to prove that MPD does nothing to serve and protect the community. “There is more harm done than protection.”

The recent pandemic has also proved to be a roadblock for many protestors. Though many cities are still under stay-at-home orders as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic or are otherwise exercising extreme caution towards this respiratory virus, protestors are being maced and tear gassed. Many have noted the irony in the enforcement of curfews in response to the protests but not in response to the pandemic. Olsen herself decided to stay home for her own safety and the safety of her family because of COVID-19. As thousands of Americans congregate to protest, the pandemic seems like a secondary problem.

Many protesters are seen wearing masks; however, the powerful effects of tear gas and mace which include coughing may render those masks useless. Olsen says the pandemic is stifling the movement and is forcing protestors to "rethink the ways we protest." Dr. Angela Luvara, a lecturer in the Department of Sociology concentrating in critical race theory, sees the pandemic as another example of Black struggle. For her, with or without a pandemic, Black lives are at risk whether they’re in their homes such as Atatiana Jefferson or in public like George Floyd. The argument that opponents of the protests have made that they’re being unsafe by not social distancing is a moot one since Black people exist in a society that is built to be unsafe for them. If protestors were to stay home instead, the inequality in the coronavirus response and medical access would lead to more Black deaths regardless. Therefore, for Luvara, a pandemic should not be seen as a deterrent to social movements but as another reason why they are necessary.

The relationship between MPD and Minneapolis citizens serves as an example to the broader history of police involvement in the demonization and brutalization of Black Americans. Dr. Luvara connects the current system of law enforcement to slave patrols in the 18th and 19th centuries which became the first form of law enforcement in the United States. As the first stone that built the modern policing system, she notes that it is impossible to see policing without racism and that “policing is not failing. Policing is doing what it was designed to do for 400 years.

In times like these, it may get difficult to find hope. Many look back at history and wonder if change has ever been possible. But social progress has never been linear, says Luvara. Progress is like a stretched out slinky, with multiple setbacks, slow inclines, and a hard-to-see future. Sometimes we may move one step forward and two steps back, or three, or seven. But eventually, the slinky moves forward. It is difficult to see the short-term change, but ideally, Olsen shares the same hope as many Americans during a time of unrest, anger, and inequality: a world where everyone is housed, clothed, fed, and safe. “I remain optimistic because there is no other way to survive. To be optimistic is to be constantly thinking about the ways your community, your people, and you can adapt, change, and make the world a better and safer place in any way. I am always rooting for this.” Though Minneapolis has faced generations of inequality and police abuse, Olsen is inspired. The current collective action and push for radical change is not new for her community, and it’s a testament to the city’s strength. 

On our own campus, we can be a part of the progress especially when there are setbacks. American University's Black Student Union has worked with other DC chapters to demand Mayor Bowser and Metropolitan Police Department chief Peter Newdham to enact "immediate and proactive action against white supremacy and police brutality. By analyzing financial records and statistics, BSU has listed MPD's obligations to the DC community through funding projects, investing in training, increasing transparency, and reducing youth arrests. The chapters also urge MPD to not “forcibly”  engage with the protests in DC. Bowser’s office has not returned a request for comment. 

Olsen would like to direct students to Black Visions Collective, and Reclaim The Block as organizations that would benefit from your money and your voice. Reclaim the Block has also published a list of other Minneapolis-based organizations that could use support. She also asks that students check in on their Black friends across the country and ask what you can do to support them. Lastly, to get educated, she pointed to abolitionist literature such as Prisons, Police. & Abolition by Jordan Camp and Christina Heatherton. Our organizations are also not exempt from change.

Just as we must hold our institutions accountable, we must hold each other and our on-campus organizations accountable. The Rival is also responsible for overshadowing and ignoring Black voices, and we are reevaluating what our role on this campus should be. As a Muslim, I have to address the racism within the Muslim community and how it was a Muslim man who called the police on Floyd for a $20 check. There is no person or group safe from their own ignorance, and I implore you to take Jada Olsen’s words to heart and use your platform, both personal and organizational, to boost voices and be informed.