May 25, 2020 was an unusual Memorial Day. Covid-19 was in full bloom and everything was shut down. I had planned to grill dinner that evening and celebrate my daughter’s birthday with her the next day.
Then, suddenly, my phone started blowing up with texts urging me to watch a video on Facebook. It was the now-infamous footage captured by Darnella Frazier. As I watched it, I heard Minneapolis Police spokesperson John Elder on the news claiming that “a man in police custody died tonight from a medical emergency.” I looked back and forth between my computer screen and the TV and said aloud, “That’s not a medical emergency. That’s a murder.”
And I recognized the officer kneeling on George Floyd’s neck: Derek Chauvin. He had been on our radar at Communities United Against Police Brutality (CUAPB) for years. We had documented 32 misconduct complaints against him, four prior deadly-force incidents, and virtually no discipline. Within an hour of the video surfacing, I had posted records on both Chauvin and Tou Thao to Facebook.
CUAPB has a long history of collaborating with other organizations, and we immediately began reaching out to our partners. By that very night, we were in the streets. Hearing George Floyd cry out for his mother with his final breath was excruciating. People naturally gravitated toward protest in response to such an outrageous and inhumane death.
The protests were powerful and largely peaceful — until day three. That’s when Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman went on the news and said, “I looked at that video and I don’t see any criminal conduct.” His words made it clear he intended to ignore the public outcry and once again protect the police. People had had enough.
That night, the Third Precinct was burned. In 35 years of doing this work, I had never seen a precinct set ablaze.
Our coalition stayed in constant contact as weeks turned into months. One moment we were organizing protests; the next, we were writing reports on ending police violence or testifying at the legislature.
We authored the letter that prompted the Department of Justice to launch an investigation. And still, the killings continued — Daunte Wright, Winston Smith, Amir Locke, and others — reminding us that our work is far from over.
Five years later, our coalition remains committed to ending police violence and fighting for true accountability. For me, the most powerful lesson has been the value of coalition work — how, together, we can press forward and carve out some measure of justice in the face of entrenched systemic oppression.
Michelle Gross is the founder and current president of Communities United Against Police Brutality (CUAPB), an all-volunteer organization now in its 25th year.