At Our Streets Minneapolis we are devastated by Minneapolis police killing George Floyd. His death is a tragic loss. Our thoughts are with everyone impacted by George Floyd’s death, especially his friends and family.
We are an organization dedicated to making streets places where everyone can bike, walk, and roll easily and comfortably. We know that our streets will not be safe until everyone in our community can move through them without the threat of police violence.
Portrait of George Floyd by Andres Guzman
We stand with protesters and advocates shining a light on the long history of racism and police violence in Minneapolis.
Throughout our work we are striving to uproot white supremacy in local transportation processes and within our own organization.
Our vision for the future of street planning is a process where community comes first, especially centering people who have traditionally been left out of transportation decision-making like Black people, Indigenous people, and people of color (BIPOC). We know that a long history of urban planning decisions made for, not by, BIPOC folks has destroyed Black communities and led to the creation of streets and neighborhoods that amplify disparities between white people and Black people, Indigenous people, and people of color. As a result, it is critical that we center BIPOC voices in transportation decision-making now.
We will continue to work closely with local community to set our advocacy priorities and strategies.
We will continue to build reciprocal relationships with trusted partners who have deep roots in local Black communities and communities of color.
We will continue to be strong advocates against the use of traffic law enforcement as a street safety strategy.
We’re also doing our best to make sure our staff is able to take the time they need right now.
Our Streets Minneapolis staff took the day off on May 28th so we could process, mourn, and care for ourselves & our community. As we move forward, we will continue to use our unlimited paid time off policy for full time staff to decide for themselves what their capacity is to work as our city battles racism and police violence, amid a global pandemic. We appreciate your patience and flexibility at this time.
We will continue to work and grow toward our vision because we will accept nothing less.
