The Wild Reed: In Uptown and Beyond, Murals Honor George Floyd and Call for an End to Systemic Racism

This time last week I was in the Uptown neighborhood of south Minneapolis where I marveled at the many beautiful and powerful murals painted on the boarded-up windows of numerous shops and stores. These colorful works of public art not only pay tribute to George Floyd and other victims of police brutality but also call all to consciousness and action around the issue of systemic racism and police violence against people of color, black men in particular.

The boarded-up businesses are remnants of the riots that erupted in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by police on May 25. This killing took place at the intersection of Lake St. and 38th Ave. in south Minneapolis, midway between Uptown and my home in the Seward neighborhood. In the days and weeks that have followed, Minneapolis has become the epicenter of a global uprising, one that embodies the realization that George Floyd's murder serves as a catalyst for much-needed and long-overdue systemic change.

The blossoming of artwork around Minneapolis (and indeed the world) is just one manifestation of this uprising, about which Liv Martin writes:

Colorful works of art have popped up throughout the Twin Cities to honor the memory of George Floyd, who was killed at the hands of Minneapolis police on May 25. Using boarded-up buildings, city walls, and sidewalks as their canvasses, many artists have shown solidarity through their own unique art styles.

[A]rtists, like those of the cohort of Studio 400, have painted murals around the Twin Cities. . . . One mural painted at the Seward Community Co-op on 38th Street reads, “Performative allyship will not suffice. Demand justice.” Another mural at that location by Studio 400 member Maiya Lea Hartman features a child in the foreground, holding a sign that reads “We are the future they fought for,” and wearing a Black Lives Matter T-shirt, with two elders in the background.

Following are some of the photos that I took of the murals honoring George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement in Uptown, Minneapolis on Saturday, July 18, 2020.