A Progressive City Takes a Hard Look in the Mirror
Despite its egalitarian image, Minneapolis has never managed to root out racial inequity.
Protesters demonstrate outside the burning 3rd Police Precinct in Minneapolis on Thursday, May 28.
Photographer: John Minchillo/APMinneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey knew before he was elected in 2017 that the city’s police department had a pattern of abuse. The death of George Floyd under the knee of a cop has made it clear just how much of a problem it is. Revulsion over the killing and the ensuing violence have thrown into doubt Frey’s mission for Minneapolis to be, as he said in his inaugural address, a city “united around the values of opportunity, inclusion, and justice.”
I know Frey a bit because his late grandfather, Jerry Goldstein, was a friend of mine. I’ve watched his rise from college track star to a marathon runner for Team USA to law school, then his work as a civil rights attorney and community organizer in Minneapolis, and then to a seat on the city council, followed by his election as mayor at age 36. In an early morning tweet on May 29, President Donald Trump wrote that Frey is “Radical Left.” That is an overstatement, but Frey is unabashedly liberal on issues ranging from racial discrimination to LGBTQ rights to homelessness.