The vice president of the Minneapolis City Council is calling on city leaders to declare racism a public health emergency following the death of George Floyd in police custody.
Councilwoman Andrea Jenkins spoke at a press conference with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Police Chief Medaria Arradondo on Thursday after two nights of protests erupted in the city.
“As we stand here grieving yet another loss of black life, a senseless, tragic loss of black life, I really don’t have many words, but I know that something’s got to change,” Jenkins said. “So, I am asking my colleagues, the mayor, and anyone else who is concerned about the state of affairs in our community to declare a state of emergency declaring racism as a public health issue. Until we name this virus, this disease that has infected America for the past 400 years, we will never, ever resolve this issue.”
Wednesday saw a second night of public demonstrations escalate into widespread looting, arson, and the fatal shooting of one person. Frey has requested the National Guard to help control the protests, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz called the demonstrations an “extremely dangerous situation.”
Jenkins sympathized with protesters but called on those inciting violence to stop their actions. Frey echoed her call.
“I want to remind all of the people that are in the streets protesting: You have every absolute right to be angry, to be upset, to be mad, to express your anger,” Jenkins said. “However, you have no right to perpetrate violence and harm on the very communities that you say that you are standing up for. We need peace and calm in our streets, and I am begging you for that calm.”
Floyd was a 46-year-old black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer identified as Derek Chauvin pinned him to the ground and put his knee on the back of his neck for roughly nine minutes. Footage of the incident circulated online showing Floyd expressing his inability to breathe. Four officers involved with Floyd’s detainment, which revolved around a report of forgery, were fired on Tuesday.
Jenkins said that she sympathized with her community and will work to help heal racial tensions.
“I also stand here to grieve with my community today,” she said. “With all the black people all throughout this country, all throughout America, and right here in Minneapolis. We feel as if there was a knee on all of our collective necks, a knee that says, ‘Black life does not matter.’ To the institutions that dictate what happens in this culture and society, I am a part of this system to help, to take that knee off of our necks, and that is the work that I will be doing.”
