Jeremiah Ellison, a Minneapolis city councilman and the son of the Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, is calling for a total do-over of the Minneapolis Police Department after the death of George Floyd.
“We are going to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department,” Ellison tweeted on Thursday. “And when we’re done, we’re not simply gonna glue it back together. We are going to dramatically rethink how we approach public safety and emergency response. It’s really past due.”
We are going to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department.
And when we’re done, we’re not simply gonna glue it back together.
We are going to dramatically rethink how we approach public safety and emergency response.
It’s really past due. https://t.co/7WIxUL6W79
— Jeremiah Ellison (@jeremiah4north) June 4, 2020
Ellison’s comments come in response to a user saying no one in an elected position is brave enough to take on the police in their city or state.
Floyd, who is black, died last week after a white police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. Protests spiraled across the country, demanding an end to police brutality and systemic racism.
President Trump called the level of mistrust between black Americans and law enforcement “very sad” and said the country needs to get its police departments to do better.
In a rare address to the nation, former President Barack Obama called on mayors to review their police departments’ use of force following Floyd’s death.
