Photograph by Xena Goldman
George Floyd Mural at Cup Foods
On a wall of the Cup Foods at 38th & Chicago, where the horrifying video of Derek Chauvin killing George Floyd emerged, is a moving mural bearing Floyd’s name, face, the names of many other black people slain by the police, and the phrase, “I can breathe now.”
The mural has a light blue background, giving way to a sunflower with Floyd’s face and upper body in the head of the flower; with the names of others, including Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice, Philando Castile, Breona Taylor, Michael Brown, Jamar Clark, and more, surrounding him. Large, block orange letters read ‘George Floyd’ with outlines of people in each letter, raising their fists to the sky. On Thursday, people began to gather around the in-work memorial, placing flowers and signs around the mural and writing messages on the sidewalk.
Xena Goldman, Greta McLain, and Cadex Herrera began painting around 7 a.m. on Thursday and completed the mural Friday. Speaking to Fox 9, the artists said they wanted to give the community a place to mourn Floyd, with Herrera adding, “It’s devastating. I hope, at least, some piece can come from this, to reflect on the life of a human being that was unnecessarily taken away.”
Goldman told KARE 11, “Hopefully, it’s a reminder that this should never happen again, and people need to step up in every way that they can to stand up against these corrupt systems.”
The Minneapolis Police Department fired the four officers involved in the death of Floyd on Wednesday: Chauvin, Thomas Lane, Tou Thao, and J. Alexander Kueng. Chauvin was brought into Bureau of Criminal Apprehension custody on Friday and Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said Chauvin has been charged with third degree murder and manslaughter. There wasn’t an update on arrests or charges against the other three officers, although Freeman said he expects they will be prosecuted.
