The ADRR

On May 25, 2020, Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin knelt on George Floyd’s neck for over nine minutes until he died. It was not the first time a black man was killed by the police. Minneapolis Police had a reputation for being violent and racist for decades. But it was on video. Anyone who could stomach it could see the life seep out of George Floyd at the hands of Officer Chauvin.

In the ensuing nights, the Third Precinct burned, two more people were killed, and 700 buildings and 1,500 businesses were either damaged or destroyed, mostly concentrated near the Third Precinct. was the second-most destructive period of local unrest in United States, behind the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Since then, there have been two more police killings in the Twin Cities, one in a first-ring suburbs and a second one in Minneapolis’s wealthiest commercial node, Uptown. Both resulted in ongoing rioting, looting and destruction. And there is a broad consensus that it will happen again.

So, what does this mean for a city? Not the easy question about whether or not buildings were rebuilt. But how does a city go forward when it becomes the literal face of racism and oppression in the United States? And how does that affect, not just public safety, but the very fabric of a city?