Five years after George Floyd's murder by a white police officer sparked nationwide protests and demands for police reform, progress remains slow.
Across the country, police were involved in more killings in 2024 than any year in more than a decade, including 17 in Oregon, and Black people continue to be killed disproportionately.
Sandy Chung, executive director of the ACLU of Oregon, said some police reform measures in the state, like banning tear gas and decriminalizing drug use, were passed after the protests and revoked soon after.
"There have been a lot of fights we've had to make sure that the powers of the police aren't expanded in ways that are really harmful to our democracy and civil liberties, civil rights," Chung explained.
A 2021 Oregon law established the Commission on Statewide Law Enforcement Standards of Conduct and Discipline, which Chung supports. However, she noted it lacks a protocol for addressing officers involved in white supremacist groups.
Chung criticized an Oregon bill just passed by the Senate to expand police drone surveillance with less court oversight. She argued more funding and power for law enforcement will not improve community safety. It is especially dangerous now, as she warned the Trump administration is weaponizing policing to target opponents and suppress free speech.
Chung argued Oregonians know addressing the root causes of crime is what makes communities safer.
"To make sure that people have access to good jobs, to health care, to schooling, to housing," Chung outlined.
Chung added many of the most successful police reforms are happening on a local, rather than a state level, and pointed to the Community Board for Police Accountability created by Portland voters in 2020. She noted the model, which has not yet been implemented, incorporates the best practices recommended for an oversight committee.
get more stories like this via email
The racial reckoning spurred by George Floyd's murder got the public's attention about possible progress in ending wealth disparities. A Black-led Minnesota foundation says hope may have faded for some, but community partners are undeterred.
The fifth anniversary of Floyd's murder is this Sunday, and fresh 'think pieces' point out that corporate pledges of financial support are more muted these days, especially with political backlash against Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts.
Lulete Mola, co-founder and president of the Black Collective Foundation of Minnesota, said when they started up after 2020, they were warned by advocates tied to other historic events that this would happen.
"We're in a long movement arc of racial justice," Mola said. "It did not start in 2020. It started from the day Black people touched the soil of this land."
Because of those generational experiences, she said, Black communities have a daily commitment that goes beyond statistics about disparities. For example, grantees through her foundation emphasize a sense of identity for neighborhoods and minority-owned businesses in creating a prosperous future.
Mola suggested that can be more powerful than feeling beholden to a corporate-backed vision. Still, she said long-term corporate support is welcome, should CEOs decide to re-engage. She acknowledged the recent political shift is disruptive to the racial justice movement and that groups on the ground have to pivot as they try to improve outcomes.
"We may not see those numbers change five years after 2020," she said. "It may take 10 years, it may take 15 years. But I do have faith that what we've started and how we're moving here in the Twin Cities will garner results - that creates a very different community than the ones we experienced in 2020."
Mola pointed to a large body of research showing that improving the lives of Black people benefits all of society. That includes increased workforce participation, higher levels of consumer spending and less pressure on the criminal-justice system.
get more stories like this via email
Just days before the fifth anniversary of George Floyd's murder, the Trump administration announced it will try to end federal reform efforts involving Minneapolis police. City leaders and activists say it won't stop their work.
The Justice Department on Wednesday said it's moving to get lawsuits dismissed that led to a proposed consent decree for the Minneapolis Police Department.
Under the Biden administration, an investigation of MPD found widespread civil rights violations, including discrimination against Black people and Native Americans.
Michelle Gross, president of Communities United Against Police Brutality, criticized the DOJ's latest move, and its timing.
"I think a lot of it is really just pour[ing] salt in the wound of the community that is still healing from that. And so, I think it's very outrageous," Gross said.
Justice Department officials insist it was court deadlines, not the anniversary, that drove the announcement. They said the investigation relied on flawed methodologies and incomplete data. But Gross said problems remain, and they'll challenge the petition in court.
City officials say they'll carry on with guidelines from the consent decree, citing progress from a new independent analysis.
That report is tied to a separate agreement reached with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights following Floyd's murder. Gross said complying with those mandates is valuable, but added that the federal oversight is still needed.
"There are some things in the DOJ consent decree that we wanted, particularly addressing things like overtime, addressing things like Minneapolis police interactions with youth," she continued.
On overtime, reform advocates say leaning on it too much leads to officer burnout, worsening the culture within the police force. Elsewhere, the Justice Department also is trying to undo reforms for the Louisville Police Department.
get more stories like this via email
This Sunday, racial-justice advocates will observe the fifth anniversary of George Floyd's murder. A Minnesota professor who has written about activism surrounding Floyd's case says the movement still has legs to it, despite recent rhetoric.
When a handful of Minneapolis police offers were convicted on charges related to Floyd's murder, it capped off a global wave of heightened activism about confronting systemic racism.
Michelle Phelps, a University of Minnesota sociologist, released a book last year on the local push to challenge police violence. She said it's a complex topic, acknowledging the broader mood today has changed somewhat. But Phelps points to lasting impacts.
"The expansion of unarmed mental and behavioral health crisis-response units, which have actually developed in cities across the country [is seen] as one of the ways that jurisdictions are trying to respond to figure out who's best suited to respond to 911 calls," Phelps explained.
She said that stands tall amid a shift in policies related to policing.
A flurry of accountability laws surfaced around the U.S. after Floyd's murder, but some are being scaled back. Minneapolis officials say they're still committed to long-term changes, but beyond law-enforcement, new data show continued disparities in Minnesota. That includes a widening homeownership gap for the state's Black population.
The worldwide response to Floyd's murder saw statements of solidarity extended to the Black Lives Matter movement, from corporations and other key entities. Phelps said based on historical trends, it's not surprising to see some backlash since then. But she says the toned-down enthusiasm in 2025 doesn't erase what happened in 2020.
"It means that there was a moment of questioning, and I think that's exactly what we saw in Minneapolis and nationally, is there was this moment of awareness and conversation about structural racism that was really profound, even if it was short-lived," she continued.
Phelps added the seeds that were planted several years ago are likely to stay in the minds of young adults who have come of age during this era. She suggested it will be one of the many complicated events that influence their political engagement in the years to come.
get more stories like this via email
Contact
