MINNEAPOLIS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th May, 2021) A year after George Floyd's death, his home city, Minneapolis, is grappling with skyrocketing crime rates, a chronic condition further exacerbated by demoralized police and its undercut credibility with residents.
The residents are increasingly self-reliant. Naya Edison, a young African American single mom, says that she never ventures outdoors without a taser and a mace, an aerosol self-defense spray, since there is "a war" underway.
"Right now our city is at war, you know. The police, us, ourselves, you know. It's a lot going on with everything that is happening in such a period of time. So it's kind of crazy right now," Edison says to Sputnik.
Last year, over 550 people got shot in the streets of Minneapolis, the highest number since mid-1990s. Another 200 have been hit by gunfire since the start of 2021, twice as many as during the same period last year. Similar trends are observed in many major American cities, but Minneapolis is in the spotlight as a cradle of a nationwide drive for police reforms and a testing ground for innovative law enforcement practices.
"I stay inside. The best you can do to protect yourself is staying home," Edison says.
Then she dives into her car and pulls out a taser, a formidable device in a leather holster.
"Walking home, going home can be dangerous, especially at night. You always have to have something to protect yourself at all times. No matter if you know something is going to happen or if you don't. You just got to stay protected at all times," Edison's advice is.
She lives near a blocked intersection with a makeshift memorial, now known as the George Floyd square. It was there that on May 25, 2020, the African American was agonizing under a policeman's knee pinning him to the ground and depriving of oxygen to breathe.
His tormentor, Derek Chaivin, was convicted of second-degree murder and the entire Minneapolis Police Department is now under scrutiny by the US Justice Department. Since Floyd's death a third of the police force - more than 200 officers - have resigned, local media reported.
Good riddance, according to Alex Riley, another neighborhood dweller. Whatever happens, she never calls the police and wishes that they had a separate phone number with paramedics.
"At this point the police aren't protecting anyone. You call them after the crime has been finished, and they write something down and you never see them again. Or they show up and instigate something," Riley says.
"If something happens in my neighborhood, I am just checking with my neighbors to make sure everyone is ok. We just don't call the police... Because it's over in a minute. Obviously, it's awful when someone gets caught in a crossfire, and someone innocent gets hurt, but someone innocent gets hurt when the police show up too," she adds.
Riley is favor of abolishing the police altogether.
"They continue to intimidate people and threaten the lives of people who are protesting. I used to think that we could reform, we could change things by changing some rules, but I have changed my mind. I think abolishing of the police is what we need to do," she explains.
Last year, the City Council slashed $8 million from police coffers and partially redirected funds to community-based violence prevention programs and mobile mental health teams. The initial zeal for reforms seems to be evaporating amid spiking crime rates with Mayor Jacob Frey now publicly speaking up against weakening an already beleaguered department.
"No, abolishing the police doesn't work. It imminently harms Black people. Listen, as an unapologetic Black man I understand the anger of wanting to be rid of the police department that doesn't treat its Black people with respect. It's an issue that has been ignored for years. But when you talk about abolishing the police who will ultimately solve the crimes that are happening in the community?" Jamal Nelson, a local African American activist, tells Sputnik.
"If we are not more proactive in trying to find a plan that suits our community and helps to eradicate crime we are in for a long, long summer of probably death," he warns.
All four roads leading to the George Floyd memorial - a clenched rusty iron fist surrounded by flowers and pictures of African Americans who died at the hands of the police - are blocked with barricades and checkpoints. "You are now entering the free state of George Floyd," a big sign informs. Locals say the area has been for years a gang battleground, but the situation has got even more complicated after Floyd died with the police now venturing into the troubled neighborhood only in the most extreme cases.
"The idea was to protect with barriers the people that were there having celebration, mourning... And then ultimately it has turned into a rest haven for crime," Nelson says. He fights against barricades installed by a group of people vaguely referred to as "caretakers." Citing security reasons, Nelson schedules a meeting outside the area and arrives accompanied by a bodyguard.
"It has been pretty rough down there. It is a volatile place. Gun violence is at an all-time high in the area post-George Floyd. I myself have been assaulted there. But it still can turn into a vibrant neighborhood if we can follow what the neighborhood wants. And that is to remove those barriers," he says.
He dodges all questions about the identity of "caretakers." Unlike several colleagues who reported being harassed near the George Floyd square, a Sputnik correspondent freely strolled across the area and uninterruptedly talked to people inside. Local media said the municipality is preparing to remove barriers, an apparent irritant for some locals, and fears are that it may fuel tensions in a ever combustible city.
"This barricade thing has got to go. My patience is done now. The city has already done its homework. [People who control the area say] 'Our agreement is that we are here until the end of [Chauvin's] trial. It's not over yet.' It's over!" a neighborhood resident whispers.
The man, who preferred to remain anonymous, says that he has recently developed a habit of counting gunshots heard from his house and the current tally is over 700.
