Overview: From the streets to community healing
Columnist Shanasha Whitson profiles Marquise Bowie, a South Minneapolis native whose journey from the streets and federal prison to George Floyd Square demonstrates the power of mentorship, accountability, and keeping "the neighbor in the neighborhood.
At the intersection of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue in South Minneapolis, a place now known around the world as George Floyd Square, Marquise Bowie stands as a community ambassador, mentor, author and advocate. His story is rooted in the same South Minneapolis neighborhoods where he now works to create change.
Born in 1975, Bowie grew up during the 1980s and 1990s, when the crack cocaine epidemic, gang activity, poverty, community violence and strained relationships with law enforcement shaped the lives of many Black youth.
Today, Bowie describes his journey with one word: transformation.
“It’s about the trials and tribulations of somebody that grew up in South Minneapolis to now being one of the ambassadors, one of the faces of George Floyd Square,” Bowie said.
Through his involvement with the Minnesota Agape Movement and other community efforts, Bowie has embraced a philosophy of “transforming street energy into community energy” and “putting the neighbor back into the neighborhood.”
Growing up in South Minneapolis
Bowie was his mother’s only child and says he entered street life at an early age. Without consistent male role models, he struggled to navigate the pressures surrounding him.
Trauma also came early. Bowie was about 15 when his best friend was killed. During his youth, he also remembers the killing of Tycel Nelson, a 17-year-old shot by Minneapolis police officer Daniel May on Dec. 1, 1990. May claimed he acted in self-defense after Nelson pointed a gun at him, but witnesses and an autopsy indicated Nelson was shot in the back while running away, and community members disputed whether he was armed at all. The incident shaped how Bowie viewed law enforcement.
Bowie remembers marching down Lake Street following Nelson’s death. Years later, that same area would become internationally recognized during demonstrations following George Floyd’s murder.
Bowie’s own choices eventually led to incarceration. He served a lengthy federal sentence from 2007 to 2019. While prison removed him from his family and community, it also became a place where he began confronting the trauma, decisions and experiences that had shaped his life.
Instead of allowing incarceration to define his future, Bowie began writing. Creative writing became a form of therapy and accountability. With support from professor and writer Jim Reese, Bowie gained access to educational opportunities, computers and space to write while incarcerated in Yankton, South Dakota.
He began documenting stories about growing up in South Minneapolis: the crack epidemic, gangs, drugs, poverty, friendship, family, loss, fatherhood and incarceration. Those stories became his book, “The Last Drop of Mad Dog 20/20.”
Returning home with a different purpose
When Bowie returned to Minneapolis in 2019, he intentionally stayed away from his old neighborhood for several months.
“I knew once I did come, it would trigger me,” he said.
Instead, Bowie began volunteering at community parks, including Phelps, King, Powderhorn and Green Central. He remembers Cynthia Wilson, now NAACP Minneapolis Chapter president, giving him a cleaning job in the kitchen.
That commitment eventually expanded into mentoring through athletics and education. Bowie now works at Roosevelt High School and has coached girls’ flag football. As a father of two daughters, he discovered his mentoring role would include young women as well as young men.
“I’m just trying to give them something that I didn’t get growing up,” he said. “Consistency is one of the keys for me.”
Bowie believes one of the greatest things adults can offer young people is the willingness to listen.
“A lot of people don’t listen to these youngsters because they don’t feel like they can learn from them,” he said.
He is particularly concerned about substance use and the mixed messages youth receive from adults and social media. Bowie speaks openly about his own past use of alcohol and marijuana while encouraging young people to avoid choices that could create long-term consequences.
Becoming an ambassador for George Floyd Square
Following George Floyd’s murder on May 25, 2020, 38th and Chicago became an international destination for people seeking to understand what happened and honor Floyd’s memory. For Bowie, the square is more than a historic site. It is home.
He grew up around the Central, Powderhorn, Bryant and Bancroft neighborhoods, history that lets him give visitors a perspective beyond photographs and memorials. He talks with them about the neighborhood’s history, community organizations, residents, artists and locally owned businesses that continue to struggle financially.
“Most people are just coming to pay respects and take pictures,” Bowie said. “I encourage them to get to know more about the community as far as boots on the ground.”
He points visitors toward Black-owned businesses, restaurants, coffee shops, artists and community organizations operating around the square, one way he says visitors can contribute to a neighborhood that continues to face economic challenges.
Bowie’s book explores why underserved young people may turn toward gangs, drugs and street culture in search of money, belonging, protection or love, and how what initially feels like family and opportunity can become deeply dysfunctional. It also examines fatherhood and the consequences his incarceration had on his daughters, now 26 and 18. He is also a grandfather.
At 50, Bowie’s journey has taken him from a young man navigating trauma and street life to incarceration, authorship, fatherhood, mentorship, coaching and community leadership.
Standing at 38th and Chicago, Bowie represents another story emerging from George Floyd Square: a story about what can happen when lived experience becomes a tool for service.
“Southside, we outside!”
Shanasha Whitson’s “Profiles in Power” aims to highlight community members spearheading positive impact in the local Twin Cities community. She is also the founder of Community Partnership Collaborative 2.0 (CPC). She welcomes reader responses at shanasha2@msn.com.