Minnesota Governor and Minneapolis Mayor give grim speech about upcoming week, preempting riots

The tone of both their voices was of fear.

It was mere hours ago that Judge Cahill acknowledged to defense attorney Eric Nelson that the comments made by Maxine Waters were specific and politically charged enough to allow the potential for an appeal in the Chauvin trial.

He denied the motion for a mistrial and the jury began the deliberation process.

With that in mind, both Minnesota’s Governor and the Mayor of Minneapolis just did a press conference that came off with the message mass public unrest is inevitable regardless of the verdict.

Today’s briefing by the Governor laid out his thoughts about this upcoming week. With everyone in the city, state, and country on edge over the jury deliberation in the Derek Chauvin trial over George Floyd’s death.

Mayor Frey follows it up with a speech about how no matter what the outcome is, that the city will be focusing on “racial justice” no matter moving forward.

Governor Walz started the briefing by recounting the death of George Floyd. Then he launched into this speech about how the riots played out last year, and how the protesters were the true victims because change didn’t come fast enough. Systemic public safety reforms are needed to stop this cycle of civil unrest, the Governor says. Walz alluded to the reality that things would “repeat themselves” if nothing is done to change the governmental systems.

“Shaped by the response” is how far he went.

Then Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis came up. He opened up by calling the last year a “barrage of trauma” for the area, with the trial and verdict being the culmination.

“Regardless of the outcome of this trial, regardless of the decision made by the jury, there is one true reality: which is that George Floyd was killed at the hands of police.” Being black in America should not be a death sentence, said the embattled leader.

“Irrespective of the verdict” Frey says, he knows the public will want to act on their anger and frustration. Daunte Wright and the riots that unfolded in Brooklyn Center were pointed at by the Mayor as a recent example of what he’s talking about.

Frey then went on to reiterate the importance of free press in the week ahead. But then he puts his foot down that people coming from outside the state just to cause destruction “need to be stopped.”