Community Visioning Council Letter of Support for the Alternate Proposal for George Floyd Square in advance of the Minneapolis City Council meeting

Introduction:
The Community Visioning Council, along with many others in our community, support the Alternate Proposal for George Floyd Square. (https://bit.ly/GFS_Plan). This plan prioritizes the community, honoring the life of George Floyd and the many Black lives lost to police violence, while fostering long-term healing. The Floyd family is developing a memorial plan for George Floyd to be announced in 2025. During this time, the CVC seeks to use the next year to create and share our own vision for the Square, while the city focuses on healing and housing needs along the 38th Street corridor.

Statement of Support:
The city’s current plan to rebuild the intersection at 38th and Chicago feels rushed and disconnected from what the community needs. Reconstructing Chicago Ave, a project planned long before 2020, risks erasing the significance of this sacred space. Fixing streets or making a show at the intersection won’t erase the trauma of George Floyd’s murder or the uprising. We need time and space to heal. The city rushing to design the intersection isn’t going to help.

The Alternate Proposal offers a better way forward:

• Focuses on Healing Together: We need time and resources to explore what healing truly means for residents, businesses, visitors, and unhoused neighbors.
• Gives Us Time to Plan and Strategize: The community requires at least a year to listen, reflect, and decide together before any major changes are made.
• Community in Leadership: The city shouldn’t decide how we heal or honor George Floyd. It should be the people who live with this every day.
• Ensures Accountability: The city must recognize that the trauma of George Floyd’s murder and the uprising cannot be erased. We need leadership that empowers the community to define its future, as the City Engagement Team’s Co-Creation group initially recommended (now the CVC).

For decades, Black people in this neighborhood have been promised change, only to be left with broken promises followed by an “Oh well.” The city’s plan feels like more of the same—ignoring our needs and the long history of harm. The murder of George Floyd is not something the city can simply “move past” with quick and/or temporary fixes. We need time, space, and leadership that supports healing and honors the ongoing fight for justice.

Call to Action: We urge the city council to adopt the Alternate Proposal for George Floyd Square. Commit resources to healing, housing, and letting the community lead this process. Until that happens, no major changes should be made to this space. 

Signed:
The Executive Committee of the Community Visioning Council

• Jennie Leenay
• Mileesha Smith
• Shekela Wanyama