Politics & Government
President Trump Skips Stop At George Floyd Memorial In Minneapolis
The George Floyd memorial at 38th Street and Chicago Avenue was busier for a Monday morning than it had been in recent weeks.
By Max Nesterak
August 17, 2020
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The George Floyd memorial at 38th Street and Chicago Avenue was busier for a Monday morning than it had been in recent weeks — more in anticipation of the city trying to reopen 38th Street than a surprise visit from the President Donald Trump.
Trump had a campaign event scheduled in Mankato Monday afternoon, and rumors swirled all weekend about a possible stop at either the George Floyd memorial or the remains of the Minneapolis Police Department’s Third Precinct headquarters, which burned in the unrest following the police killing of Floyd.
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At each of the entrances to the Floyd memorial, people dressed in black with walkie talkies monitored who walked past the concrete barriers, which have closed the intersection to traffic for nearly 3 months.
At the shuttered Speedway, whose sign now reads “George Floyd Square,” around 50 activists circled up to discuss strategies for holding the intersection in case the police came to try to drive them out. Soda works just as well as milk to flush tear gas out of your eyes, one man offered.
Another woman told the group that flash bangs will shake your whole body but resist the urge to run. Under no circumstances should you run. A lead organizer reminded the group never to talk to police but to refer all questions to the police liaisons among them.
As the group was about to break, a man at the edge of the circle said Trump was going to visit the memorial at 1 p.m. despite Gov. Tim Walz urging him not to.
“Okay, go home and rest up if you need to before 1 p.m.,” one of the lead organizers said. “And then the sit in is at 3.”
In an empty parking lot, activists practiced holding a line formation with shields made of plywood and blue barrels cut in half. Visitors kneeled in front of the mural of George Floyd. Customers walked into the recently reopened Cup Foods, now with a security detail. And journalists milled about the monument in case Trump ventured 10 miles north of the airport to the intersection.
But he didn’t. Air Force One didn’t even fly overhead as it headed southeast to Mankato.
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