State of Minnesota files racial discrimination charges against police department over George Floyd death
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has announced the state’s Department of Human Rights will be investigating Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) for signs of racial discrimination, following the death of George Floyd.
According to state officials, the investigation will go far beyond the death of Floyd – who was choked to death by a police officer during his detention in Minneapolis on May 25 – and look into the policies and practices of the police department for the past 10 years to "determine if the MPD has engaged in systemic discriminatory practices towards people of color and ensure any such practices are stopped."
Here's the Minnesota Department of Human Rights formal civil rights racial discrimination charge against the Minneapolis Police Department's "unlawful race-based policing": pic.twitter.com/UbPauuHcge
— Tony Webster (@webster) June 2, 2020
Walz said the investigation is the first step in taking on “systemic racism” in his state.
“Silence is complicity. Minnesotans can expect our administration to use every tool at our disposal to deconstruct generations of systemic racism in our state,” he added.
Our Minnesota Department of Human Rights today filed a civil rights charge against the MPD. @mnhumanrights will investigate the department’s policies, procedures, and practices over the past 10 years to determine if they engaged in systemic discriminatory practices.
— Governor Tim Walz (@GovTimWalz) June 2, 2020
The announcement of the investigation comes only days after Derek Chauvin, the police officer who was filmed pressing his knee onto Floyd’s neck while the latter said he couldn’t breathe, was charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
Floyd’s death sparked hundreds of protests against police brutality in cities across the US, many of which were peaceful, while others dissolved into violence and looting. The National Guard has been activated in multiple states to curb the protests, while curfews have been issued in a number of cities, from Nashville, Tennessee to New York City, which saw destructive demonstrations on both Sunday and Monday.
New York citizens are now being ordered to be off the streets by 8pm and Governor Andrew Cuomo has warned that Mayor Bill de Blasio may be “displaced” should things continue to spiral.
President Donald Trump has spoken out against the looting and destruction of property, calling those committing such crimes “hoodlums and thieves,” and threatening to send in the military to quell the unrest.
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