It was Memorial Day weekend, five years ago, when George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Bystanders recorded the nine-plus minutes that Chauvin calmly kneeled on Floyd’s neck, as the Black man pleaded for help and air. That video rocketed from phone to phone, from media to media and sparked worldwide protests against police brutality.

But for the Black community in Minneapolis, Floyd’s murder was just a chapter in a much longer story.

Long before 2020, people had been organizing, creating and demanding change.

Certainly, in the immediate aftermath of Floyd’s death and Chauvin’s 2021 conviction, progress was made. Businesses and institutions promised to invest in racial equity, to develop new community practices, to reckon with systems of harm.

But in the neighborhood where Floyd lived and died, has that change taken root?

That was the question at the center of a North Star Journey Live event hosted by MPR News host Angela Davis earlier this month. On May 6, a cross section of Black community leaders came together at Pillsbury House Theatre to talk about real change, deep healing and defiant hope. The conversation was candid, often surprising and ultimately inspiring.

North Star Journey Live: Five Years After George Floyd

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Panelists:

• Angela Harrelson, George Floyd’s aunt and registered nurse
• Anthony Taylor, community development lead for the Cultural Wellness Center and outdoor educator-activist
• Jeanelle Austin, founder of the Racial Agency Initiative and a board member for the George Floyd Global Memorial
• Jerome Richardson, cofounder of the youth-led Minnesota Teen Activists
• Signe Harriday, artistic producing director at Pillsbury House + Theatre and lead local organizer for the Million Artist Movement
• Tabitha Montgomery, executive director of the Powderhorn Park Neighborhood Association

Special guests:

• Junauda Petrus, creative activist and current poet laureate for Minneapolis
• Elder Atum Azzahir, founder and executive director of the Cultural Wellness Center

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