By Tabitha Ervin
FWIS Editorial Director

By the time you read this, we will be at or past the 3rd anniversary (May 25, 2020) of the death of George Floyd. This tragedy, as you should remember, was caught on social media live right outside of the Cup Foods Store on the corner of a block now known as George Floyd Square at the intersection of East 38th Street and Chicago Avenue.

I always have a list of stories ready to write each month but during my extensive work travels this month, I ended up in Minneapolis for 36 hours for a conference and 1 hour of that time was spent at George Floyd Square on a walking tour with “G” who does daily tours around his block as he called it. In light of my experience, I decided to write about it.

The sheer reality of the area, which will forever be transformed, was hard to grasp on that warm day as I walked with a group of work colleagues from various places within and outside the US.

The gas station across the street will probably be closed forever and we stood there together as we began our tour. After the operator of the gas station abandoned the property, activists painted the structure over with graffiti and re-branded it “Peoples' Way”. The parking lot and covered gas pumps serve as a central meeting place for neighbors and features a small library, clothes donation area, and food shelf.

While G started explaining, I silently looked across the street at the store and worked to painfully remember all the details of what unfolded there just 3 years ago amidst the vision of stuffed animals, flowers, murals and other items reflecting the tragedy that played out that day. I actually never watched the full video but of course it was everywhere so I remembered pictures and parts of the incident shown on television and social media.

G walked us around and showed us murals of others, names on the street honoring various people whose names many of us didn’t recognize. He explained how long the street was closed (a little more than 12 months) and how there had been black businesses in the area then that are finally back open for business. We then walked around the corner to a created graveyard full of names honoring those who have died in similar ways, many names we didn’t recognize. The cemetery with 150 headstone markers is called "Say Their Names" symbolic cemetery.

G talked about just being human and just wanting to live without being treated like a threat for just being himself.

As I walked down the hill into cemetery, my mind raced to the names I saw and the years reflected.. Breonna Taylor, Ahmad Arbury, Trayvon Martin (years prior to the others) and many others I again did not recognize. I silently walked back toward the group.

Writing this, I start thinking about my 16 year old nephew who plays football and has scholarships pouring in as we speak from various colleges. One wrong move or questionable move and the trajectory of even his precious life could be different, my God what a reflection.. I immediately want that thought to disappear but I can’t erase it because he is a black boy in America which can mean so many different things depending on the circumstances or environment.

We walked back around the block, through a neighborhood right behind the gas station that I assume people walk through on this tour daily, I can only imagine how the lives on this block changed. During the height of it all, and even months later, they probably never got any sleep. That day it was quiet and peaceful as we made our way back to the Memorial area.

We ended right back at the gas station but now we cross the street. G talks us through what we are looking at which is an area full of teddy bears full of dust under the elements of the last 3 years; flowers and various other tributes.

Someone asks, where did he die at.. G points to an area a few steps away from where I’m standing that is covered in flowers, maybe the length of his body.. He said, right here where all the flowers are.

After my eyes continue to dart back and forth from the overwhelming amount of items laying as tributes, I walk into the store for a cold drink, I’m hot and exhausted.

I slowly glanced around the store to find the cold drinks and I wondered if this is what it looked like then. The store is under new management and now called Unity Foods. I stood and thought about how the interaction inside the store went that day which caused a call to the police and ultimately resulted in this whole story. I take it all in, wow. That could have been anyone on any day, in any city. G thanked us as we closed the tour in front of the famous blue and yellow mural of George Floyd which is on the side of the store. Around the corner in the ally are more murals honoring various black history heroes.

As I reflect and close my thoughts on this commentary, I feel that it is necessary to acknowledge the pain this specific event has caused that community, various families, individuals and people all over the world. 3 years later, there is still pain and the effects of this tragic event visible through the George Floyd Memorial.