Minneapolis promised change after George Floyd. Instead it's geared up for war | Akin Olla

<p>The trial of Derek Chauvin, the officer who killed Floyd, has begun - and Minneapolis looks like a police state<br></p><p>The George Floyd uprising that began in Minneapolis introduced the demand of defunding the police to the general public, empowered Black-led anti-police violence movements across the planet, generated policy changes in cities across the US, and most importantly built new organizations which have the capacity to fight for systemic change for the long haul. The uprising brought a lot of reforms and positive developments to its birth city, too, including a move to actually defund the Minneapolis police department and redistribute funds to services with a larger potential for eradicating both crime and poverty. Now, however, the Minneapolis and Minnesota governments are in the process of undoing that progress and moving in the opposite direction. The trial of Derek Chauvin, the officer who publicly killed 46-year-old George Floyd – and inadver