Last May, African-American man George Floyd was crushed to death by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota. On the 11th of this month, another African-American man, Dante Wright, was shot and killed by police in Sente, Brooklyn, the state.
These incidents continue to spark a wave of protests against racial discrimination and violent police enforcement locally and across the United States. On the 19th local time, the Floyd case will enter the closing arguments, after which the jury will deliver its verdict.
Less than 24 hours before the floyd case was closed, the Hennepin County Government Center building, where the court was located, took on a different tone. The iron net and the soldiers on duty were still there, but the unusual silence seemed a little dead.
Temporary controls for the trial may temporarily disperse protesters, but in Minneapolis, there is an address reserved for popular anger.
Reporter Liu Wei: “Further forward is George Freud Square, where Freud was kneeling by white police.” These cement mounds were placed here in the early days of the protests, in four corners of the east and west, and they have been here for nearly a year.
This otherwise ordinary crossroads has become the focus of global attention because of Freud’s experience. As the wave of anti-racism spread across the United States, so did the names of more and more victims.
George Floyd Square defender Jay Webb: If he (former police officer Xiao Wan) is found not guilty, the whole world will convict Minneapolis, the whole world will convict the United States. Sitting in the dock is the Constitution of the United States and the United States, african-Americans are human, which is an insurmountable bottom line.
The fate of the square, however, seems to be in danger of being removed from collective memory, as is Freud’s unresolved justice. The municipal government has repeatedly proposed to relocate the monument so that the intersection can be restored to its former past, and vandalism from the people has occurred repeatedly.
Reporter Liu Wei: This installation in a cemetery next to George Floyd Square was here late last year. Each gravestone represents an African-American killed in violent police enforcement. In fact, such peaceful scenes have not always been the norm, and in the past few months, foreign white supremacists have often come here to destroy these tombstones.
Protests may be delayed, but they will never be absent. Outside the police station in the northern suburbs of Minneapolis, protesters chanted the same slogans but sought justice for the new victims.
A few days ago, 20-year-old African-American youth Dante Wright was shot dead by white police. The old case is not flat, and the new case is again. On more than one occasion, peaceful protests ended with tear gas and riot gear, and gas masks and helmets that appeared at the scene were the mark of sleepless nights.
Reporter Liu Wei: Just now, our mobile phone received an alarm that the local has decided to enter the curfew from 11 o’clock tonight, until 6 o’clock the next morning, recommended that all citizens stay at home during the curfew. Locals and we say that curfews and clashes have become the norm, and that this is just another night of protest.
