Star Tribune
Three years on, Minneapolis remembers George Floyd
Roses in hand, a group of high school students from California walked solemnly through George Floyd Square on Thursday morning. They took care as they stepped over mementos, led by guides and their instructors, who brought them to see what happened in Minneapolis three years ago.
Teacher Amy Hunt brought the 11th-graders from the Bay Area Nueva School to Minneapolis to give them a first-hand look at the scene of Floyd’s killing — and the resulting community resolve to seek racial justice — as part of their American Studies education. They had a lot to see on Thursday, the third anniversary of Floyd’s death.
In the years since Floyd was murdered by four Minneapolis police officers on May 25, 2020, the intersection of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue remains a center for learning — even without the formal structure some community members want.
Floyd was killed right before members of the visiting class started high school, and his death shifted history and their curriculum, student Alyse Graham-Martínez said.
“We’ve all seen this street on the news. But to actually be here, especially when there’s so many news people and people here who are remembering him, it’s a lot,” Graham-Martínez said.
People from as far as California and New York visited Thursday to look at the posters and other offerings. Gardeners worked on raised beds and others stepped into the Black-owned Onyx Coffeehouse for a latte, where poetry and leaflets about the racial justice movement decorate many tables.
The fact that local residents call a visit to the square a “pilgrimage” and not a tourist destination was really important, said Hunt, a St. Louis Park native.
“This is about understanding this story that’s happening here,” Hunt said of her students.
A steady flow of visitors stopped into an exhibit called the Movement Never Stops by independent photographer KingDemetrius Pendleton in the afternoon. People were led through three years of modern history by volunteer AJ Bantley, who has only missed a single weekend of working there in the last year.
It can be challenging to recount her own experiences at protests, she said. Bantley cried as she spoke to visitors about protest images covering the walls.
“If it ever gets to the point where it becomes automatic, then I’m not here for the right reasons,” she said. “If it’s ever robotic, then I’m not doing any good.”
She said it’s an honor to be entrusted with Pendleton’s display, which she balances with two jobs. It worries her when out-of-towners — and those living much closer to the intersection — come to the square without anyone to guide them.
By early evening, about 200 people had gathered at the square for several planned events. Many were from outside of the Twin Cities, some from out of state.
Taylor Jones, a 24-year-old from Medina, said he has visited the memorial several times. As a Black person, Jones said he’s experienced disparities and unequal treatment his whole life.
He said it’s been difficult to still see high-profile killings of Black people three years after Floyd’s murder.
“It’s tough, because it feels like we still have a lot of these incidents, despite it being three years later,” Jones said.
Joe Brown, a 30-year-old from Chicago, said he wanted to come to see the numerous art displays, murals and tributes placed at the square.
“It’s a part of history, and I think everybody needs to learn about it, and that police take it too far,” Brown said. “Sometimes when people say they can’t breathe, it isn’t because they’re trying to get away or escape. They really can’t breathe and the police are overdoing it.”
A block away from the square, a procession began with around 30 people marching through Say Their Names cemetery, where hundreds of plastic tombstones are placed with the names of Black people killed by police. The procession was led by the Ananya Dance Theatre, a St. Paul dance ensemble consisting of women of color.
Others at the square began picking petals off of roses to distribute in the street, and handed out candles for the vigil.
A 20-year-old St. Paul man is now facing three murder charges in separate killings in Minneapolis in recent years.
Albert Jerome Lucas was charged Wednesday in Hennepin County District Court in connection with the killing of 20-year-old Antonio Vernon Harper, of Minneapolis, on Nov. 6, 2023, in Minneapolis in the 3300 block of Dupont Avenue N.
Lucas, who has been jailed since May and remains held in lieu of $2 million bail, is scheduled to appear in court early Thursday afternoon. He does not yet have an attorney listed in court records for this latest charge.
According to Wednesday’s criminal complaint, which charges Lucas with one count of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder:
Officers arrived to the scene and saw Harper on the ground suffering from a fatal gunshot wound to the chest.
A witness told police that she saw three males “hugging” the side of home and looking toward Harper and two of his friends. Gunfire from Lucas erupted, hitting Harper, and the suspects fled in a car. One of Harper’s friends shared with officers that the shooting was gang-related.
Officers saw the vehicle two days later and determined it had been stolen in St. Paul. The driver fled police, but officers soon found the vehicle. DNA on a cigar wrapper inside the vehicle was tested and came back as a match for Lucas.
Star Tribune
Palestinian officials say an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter in northern Gaza killed 15
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An Israeli strike on a school sheltering the displaced in northern Gaza on Thursday killed at least 15 people, including five children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The Israeli military said the strike targeted dozens of Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants who had gathered at the Abu Hussein school in Jabaliya, an urban refugee camp in northern Gaza where Israel has been waging a major air and ground operation for more than a week.
Fares Abu Hamza, head of the ministry’s emergency unit in northern Gaza, confirmed the toll and said dozens of people were wounded. He said the nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital was struggling to treat the casualties.
“Many women and children are in critical condition,” he said.
The Israeli military said it targeted a command center run by both militant groups inside the school. It provided a list of around a dozen names of people it identified as militants who were present when the strike was called in. It was not immediately possible to verify the names.
Israel has repeatedly struck tent camps and schools sheltering displaced people in Gaza. The Israeli military says it carries out precise strikes on militants and tries to avoid harming civilians, but its strikes often kill women and children.
Hamas-led militants triggered the war when they stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250 others. Some 100 captives are still inside Gaza, about a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel’s offensive has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. It does not differentiate between civilians and combatants but says women and children make up a little more than half of the fatalities.
Twin Amur tigers born at Como Zoo in August now have names — Marisa and Maks.
Two long-time volunteers who have worked with zookeepers to care for and teach the public about the zoo’s big cats came up with the names, the first to be born at the St. Paul zoo in more than 40 years.
Marisa, a name that the volunteers found to mean “spirited and tenacious,” call that a perfect reflection of her personality. The name also carries special significance for the Como Zoo community, as it honors a retired zookeeper of the same name who was instrumental in the care of large cats during her 43 years at the zoo, Como Zoo and Conservatory Director Michelle Furrer said.
The male cub has been named Maks, which is associated with meanings like “the greatest” or “strength and leadership.” The volunteers felt this was an apt description of the male cub’s confident demeanor and growing sense of leadership, Furrer said.
“Marisa and Maks aren’t just names; they’re a fun reminder of the passion and care that keep us committed to protecting wildlife every day,” Furrer said.
The newborns and their first-time mother, 7-year-old Bernadette, remain off view to allow for more bonding time, zoo officials said. The cubs’ father, 11-year-old Tsar, has been a Como resident since February 2019 and remains on view.
Fewer than 500 Amur tigers — also known as Siberian tigers — remain in the wild as they face critical threats from habitat loss, poaching and human-wildlife conflict, the zoo said.
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings