What we’ve seen over the last two days and the emotion-ridden conflict over last night is the result of so much built up anger and sadness – anger and sadness that has become engrained in our Black community, not because of just five minutes of horror—but 400 years.

If you’re feeling that sadness and that anger, it’s not only understandable – it’s right. It’s a reflection of the truth our Black community has lived.

While not from lived experience, that sadness must also be understood by our non-black communities.

To ignore it, to just toss it out – would be to ignore the values we all claim to have, values that are all the more important in a time of crisis.

I love and believe in Minneapolis. And in believing in our city, we must believe that we can be better than we have been.

We must confront our shortcomings with both humility as well as hope.
We must restore peace so we can do this hard work together.
I want to note what George’s girlfriend Courteney Ross said about George. “He was all about love and all about peace.” He did not receive that...

...love, that peace from our officers on the night of May 25. But we can still honor him by practicing those values during a time of great strife.
That is the task ahead of us.
And at this time when one crisis is sandwiched against another – this could be the marker.

This could be a point in time when, years from now, we rose to right the wrongs of the past – not with words but with action. We will be working w community to sort through & set up those actions steps.

Where we found not an ignorant peace, but an awakened one. Where we can...

..truly make change possible.
And so, in the coming days we will have an all-out effort to restore peace and security in our city. I’ve authorized a...

..unified command structure that allows our Chief Arradondo to utilize resources – personnel from other jurisdictions. We’ve requested assistance from the State, and we are thankful to the Governor for the support from State Patrol.

This work is about protecting the community infrastructure needed to get through this pandemic together.
Our communities need these assets. Especially during a pandemic, our communities need grocery stores for food, we need banks for cash, we need pharmacies for needed meds.

Let’s hold our communities dear, let’s do right by them, and safeguarding them and the community assets they need.

We need to offer the radical love and compassion we all have in us. I believe in this city and I know you do, too.

My full remarks here: