A Death; A Year

May 25, 2020, was Memorial Day, the day George Floyd died on a street outside a neighborhood store in Minneapolis.  At the time we were all immersed in the pandemic.  The front page of the Minneapolis Star Tribune had a sub-headline above the fold: A GRIM STATISTIC U.S. likely to surpass 100K deaths in coming days.”

We all know what made one year ago different.  I had been keeping the front section of all the newspapers since the pandemic was declared, and here are the front pages of the days beginning May 27, the day when ‘George Floyd’ became a name for history:

May 27 – June 4, 2020, front page, Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Sunday, May 23, 2021 – two days ago – I went over to Chicago at 38th Street, the crime scene where George Floyd died a year ago.  It was about noon.

A parking lot preacher was holding a service kitty-corner across the street; there were a few of us walking around.  It was a respectful place, not a fearful one.   Some might consider me a ‘tourist’, but I wasn’t.  I wanted to witness the place I had first seen from a half block away a day after Floyd had died.

Back then, there, a concerned group had gathered at the intersection, in the street.  I was close, but didn’t get out of my car – my only concern was being in a crowd during the pandemic.

Two days ago, I took a few snapshots.  Here are three.

38th and Chicago Ave Minneapolis MN May 23, 2021

May 23, 2021, Cup Foods, Minneapolis MN, on Chicago Avenue.

 

Lutheran Church at the corner of 39th and Chicago, Minneapolis, May 23, 2021

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Today, a new year begins.  My only thought: “what can I do, as an individual, towards positive change?”  I am only one, but I am one.

So are you.

POSTNOTE: Today’s Minneapolis Star Tribune, front page, and two of eight page special section on George Floyd

May 25, 2021 Minneapolis Star Tribune

 

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