I drove today from my home in the western suburbs to my old home of Minneapolis. Before moving out to the burbs to be with my then-girlfriend, now-wife, I had lived for for 21 years in the Longfellow neighborhood four blocks east and a block or two south (different residences, same neighborhood) of the now infamous Third Precinct. Before that, at a bunch of different locations scattered throughout South Minneapolis, over a period of about 15 years.
I took Highway 7 east until it merges into Lake Street near Bde Maka Ska (formerly Lake Calhoun) to check out Uptown, one of my other old neighborhoods. There’ve been protests there since George Floyd’s murder, but other than a bunch of businesses recently boarded up, no obvious riot-damage. Only saw one broken window, which may or may not be related to civil unrest. Dozens of 20-somethings were using light grey paint to cover the bare plywood, in other places murals and graffiti had gone up.
Got back in my car and headed to 38th and Chicago where Lloyd was killed; had to park three blocks away due to the crowds. Approaching from the east on 38th, I came to what’s probably the best-known of the memorials:
There’s another memorial in the middle of the intersection:
And a third in front of Cup foods on Chicago Avenue:
There may have been others that I missed, there was quite a crowd:
Stands were set up, giving out free water and flowers:
On Chicago Avenue, the names of other victims of police violence, strewn with flowers:
If there was a police presence, they were keeping a low profile:
Again, lots of boarded up buildings on both Chicago and 38th, but not much in the way of evident property damage.
Plenty of damage at my next stop, in my old Longfellow neighborhood. That will be another post(s), too many pics to add here.