MINNEAPOLIS – There are government buildings surrounded in the center.
Cars parked in the middle of the street, where residents watch over George Floyd’s memorial on the south side of the city.
Eastern and northern parts of Minneapolis sometimes feel peaceful and tense. Some companies have closed or closed.
Almost a year of peaceful protests, riots and international protests led to this, a city on the edge and on the edge of what the mayor, Jacob Frey, calls “probably the most significant trial our city has ever experienced”.
The jury selection begins on Monday at the trial of a former Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, who is accused of murder in Floyd’s death last May.
For many, the judicial process took too long to arrive. In interviews over the past few days, residents offer differing opinions about how they feel when entering the trial.
Still, it is difficult to find anyone in the city who has not spoken about the trial at least once.
“I am concerned that he will be free and the riots will return,” said one resident, Preston McDade-Davis, 35.
The city is quiet, but getting tense, and it all depends on the verdict, said Rayford Dixon, 59, a barber.
“Anything under a 10-year sentence will make Minneapolis in an uproar,” said Dixon. “They are going to have a problem because they know it will be out in a short time (with good behavior).”
He added that the 15-year sentence must satisfy the public.
Frey said in an interview that the city has exemplified a deep sense of pride in the past 10 months, exuding unbridled love by bearing the brunt of this moment, which weighs heavily on blacks and browns.
“People are processing traumas in different ways,” said John Elder, public information officer for the Minneapolis Police Department. “We are seeing people realizing that kindness is important.”
Floyd, a black man, died in police custody on May 25 after Chauvin, a 19-year-old white veteran in the department, knelt on his neck for several minutes while Floyd repeatedly said, “I can’t breathe.”
Chauvin faces charges of wrongful death and wrongful death. Three other former police officers are due to go on trial in August.
Floyd’s death sparked national and international protests, and the district where Chauvin worked was set on fire.
Authorities say they are preparing for any decision that is made, including the establishment of Operation Safety Net, a task force assigned to coordinate security and safety measures during the trial.
About a dozen public safety and health agencies, such as the FBI, the Minnesota State Patrol, the St. Paul Police Department and the Minnesota National Guard, are included in the plans.
Minneapolis and Hennepin County plan to spend at least $ 1 million to install fences and other barricades during the trial, city and county officials said. As part of that total, the city expects to spend $ 515,000 to strengthen Minneapolis’ five police stations.
“We had a lot of civil unrest in the past year, and it was a level of violence and unrest that this city has never seen,” said Elder. “In law enforcement, you plan the worst and hope for the best. We owe it to residents, businesses and visitors to have a plan in place. “
Law enforcement officials say the city has not healed from Floyd’s murder.
“Absolutely not. There is still a lot of raw emotion and trauma for people,” said Elder, acknowledging that protests and the pandemic contributed to an increase in crime, noting that homicides increased from 48 in 2019 to 84 last year.
Concerned about possible structural damage, Minneapolis business owners seem divided on whether to remain open or to close.
“We were able to see something very similar to what happened last May,” said Jonathan Weinhagen, president of the Minneapolis Regional Chamber.
Some business owners have never removed the wooden signs from their windows, and others are willing to remain open to project a level of confidence in Minneapolis, business officials said.
“It’s a little bit on a case-by-case basis, but everyone is acting with caution,” said Weinhagen, adding that the chamber will soon begin to provide routine guidance to help companies throughout the process during the trial.
Many who live across the bridge in St. Paul have not been able to escape the magnitude of the trial and what lies ahead for the Twin Cities area.
Every day, Kasim Abdurazazq, 41, wakes up with a heightened sense of alertness, concerned with himself and his family.
No matter the verdict, there will be a stronger police presence in black communities, said the father of three, who lives in St. Paul and works and attends a mosque in Minneapolis.
“The community is suffering and suffering, and as a black man, I have to think about how the police responded to people who were upset and vocalized it,” said AbdurRazzaq. “It puts a lot of concern in my heart and in my mind.”
Because of tension in the city, he fears for his 14-year-old son, who usually takes the five-minute train from his home to the YMCA.
City officials say the trial will help define the country’s position.
“This judgment is more than just about Derek Chauvin. It is about policing and public security and how it is fundamentally flawed in the United States, ”said Minneapolis city councilor Phillipe Cunningham.
The councilor represents the north side, where the majority of black residents live.
“We know that this trial will rekindle the same type of emotional and social response that we saw last summer,” said the councilman.
Last year was not a good year for his district, which he said was “terrified” by white supremacists during the uprisings.
“Many northern residents are concerned about a potential protection gap again,” said Cunningham, referring to the police’s slow response to the destruction caused by outside infiltrators.
“We don’t have much here, so we have to be able to protect that,” he said.
Frey said there will be zero tolerance for white supremacists or any other outside agitators who want to come to the city and cause chaos or interrupt peaceful protests during the trial or after the verdict.
“They are going to be arrested,” said the mayor.
Floyd was killed in South Minneapolis on Chicago Avenue. Concrete barriers and a steel bike rack on wheels blocked the entrances to 37th and 39th streets that lead to the Floyd memorial one afternoon this week.
At the south end, a white sign with red letters says, “You are now entering the free state of George Floyd.”
At the north entrance, volunteers guard the barriers, which were spray-painted “Black lives are important” and other pro-black expressions.
A variety of colorful fresh flowers, a pan-African flag flown and a portrait of Ahmaud Arbery, a black man who was shot dead last year while running in Georgia after being chased by two white men, decorate the Floyd memorial in 38th Street.
Between these two blocks, the usual faces that live here sporadically park their cars in the middle of the road, standing guard and looking for unknown faces.
Frey said the city has blocked vehicle traffic, allowing a space in which everyone is welcome to honor Floyd.
Walking around the blocks, however, tells a different, somewhat hostile story.
Marijuana smoke fills the cold, sunny air. Traffic signs are switched off. The sidewalks are eerily quiet. And the occupants of the parked cars roll down their windows to look and question strangers.
Black residents and some white volunteers reinforce this sandy neighborhood, taking on the responsibility to preserve and protect Floyd’s monument and legacy.
“Strangers are not allowed,” said McDade-Davis. “On the one hand, the residents defended themselves and united by blocking access to a memorial dedicated to Floyd’s legacy. However, the neighborhood is ripe for burglaries. “
For better or worse, the neighborhood spiraled in opposite directions, said McDade-Davis, who lives five blocks from where Floyd was killed.
The two blocks partly symbolize today’s Minneapolis – a difficult and loving city that approaches what could be “the most significant test” it has ever seen.