Chauvin trial highlights divide between US city, activists

The tumultuous months that Minneapolis has experienced since ex-police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on George Floyd’s neck as he died last May are coming to a head as the city readies for the commencement of his trial. “I don’t believe that they’ve received adequate de-escalation training,” Levy Armstrong said of Minneapolis’s home police force. Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo said at the March 4 briefing that “while some in our communities may find some of the environmental structures that they see — barricades and barriers and fences — perhaps a little daunting, but as we saw from the events of January 6, that is a preventive tool that we have to consider and have to look at.” Moments later, Arradondo said the plans to barricade city property were in place before January 6 as preparations began as far back as late August. The city briefly launched a programme to pay social media influencers – people they dubbed “trusted messengers” – $2,000 each to disseminate city-approved messaging to traditionally marginalised groups like the Hmong and East African communities as a part of what they are calling joint information systems, two-way streets of information flowing in and out of the city in partnership with community groups. We would never allow ourselves to be in a position of lying to the community.” In response to the accusation that the money is for lying to communities, McKenzie pointed to the city’s Office of Violence Prevention’s request for application for community groups “that can be activated during periods of heightened tension during the remainder of 2021, including during the trials of the former officers involved in the killing of George Floyd”.