VOICES MINNEAPOLIS MAY 2020
Real, raw, human stories recorded days after the murder of George Floyd. Scroll down to listen.
An Audio Tour.
VOICES Minneapolis is presented without narration or production.
These are only a handful of voices impacted by the events of 2020. VOICES does not seek to tell the whole story or one story from a particular perspective but to let these interviews speak for themselves simply by a proximity of time and place.
In that way we hope to reflect the emotion and energy of the time from multiple points of view.
At each stopping point of the audio tour, you’ll find QR codes that will connect you to these excerpts from the VOICES interviews that relate directly to that location. The order in which you visit the locations and listen to the interviews is not important. We hope you’ll take the time to explore all of the locations, to be in the place while you hear the story.
It is important to note that the interviews have not been doctored or adjusted for any particular purpose. They have, however, been edited down to remove interactions with the interviewer, and to shorten the recordings for ease of sharing. Static has been added to the audio files to clearly indicate where content has been removed. The full recordings have been submitted for historical archiving and the longer form interviews can be accessed on this website.
George
Square
Floyd
Aliya
Local business owner and neighbor.
“…even on 38th and Chicago when we were cooking, it was just so beautiful to see everybody there getting along, dancing with each other, talking, just spreading love. That’s Minneapolis. You know. It’s not scary. It’s family. ”
Ralanda
Mother and resident of Maple Grove.
“Everything was scary, all this stuff was going on, and I went there, and it felt like…just the love that was there…and the hope that was there…it felt like…um…that…maybe we could make a change. That maybe people are able…maybe people would see..maybe…um…maybe the media would come here.”
Athena
Activist and artist. Moved to Minneapolis days before.
“…when i finally went to the memorial, all I could do was just cry. I was just there and i was just feeling like, argggh, like, this is, i said it, like this is going to change. Something is going to happen.”
Robert
Neighbor and DJ
“I saw a city who was fed up. They just had had enough, and they wanted to come together and respect this man, and you know, the fact that he got murdered in his own neighborhood…. I saw white people, black people, natives, Mexicans, everybody, all in one area to respect the fact that this man died unjustly.
Powderhorn
Park
Arun
Immigrant, neighbor, and geography professor.
“…just having like a disaster happen to a place or a community that really gets them to reflect on what holds them together and um and also exposes the patchiness of the relationships within it. ”
Esme
Ten-year-old (now fifteen) neighbor and helper.
“…I was just going to sleep, and then there was a boom! And there were tons of booms. And it was like shaking our house. And it was very scary….they were like big flash bombs…still don’t know what flash bombs are though…I only know that they’re dangerous and scary.”
Max
Ten-year-old (now fifteen) neighbor.
“…We have this corner store on our block. We call it the one stop. And he wrote, with red, ah, red spray paint. And I believe he wrote it on some other areas. But he wrote “kids live here”. And he wrote that on other areas that kids lived. Um. And to warn people “kid’s live here. Don’t set this place on fire or it will risk a kid’s life.”
Carla
Mother, neighbor, and interviewer.
“…somehow, nine hundred people divided up around Powderhorn Park and found their neighbors.”
Lee
Father and neighbor.
“…one of the criticisms of Minneapolis or Minnesotans is that we can, um, be so close but also be so distanced from one another, right? And this, ah, the murder of George Floyd and what came after has really pushed us to not just be in proximity with one another but actually in relationship. And to look closely at the things that have divided us for a really long time.”
Sam
Organizer, father, and neighbor.
“…everyone was walking around in a daze. There were the people, god bless ‘em, who came in and started sweeping up, and, and there were people, plenty of people who lived in the neighborhood who did that too. But there were a lot of people at varying times, like myself, who were just walking around in shock.”
Precinct
3rd
David
St Paul resident and film-maker.
“…black people just, we, I mean, we have to be, you know, we have to, we almost have to be the way we are because what has happened to us here in America. So we almost have to have this bravado in a way.”
Jeff
Neighbor and actor.
“…being a black man in America, you have, I don’t know the right word to use, forgive my vocabulary, it’s not always good, but you have a sense of loyalty and favoritism to the black community, right, so it’s like I want more than anything, is for the black community to thrive. Whatever that thrive means. I want us to get to a level we haven’t been before.”
Robert
Neighbor and DJ.
“…we grab whatever water they had left, like four or five cases, put it in the back of her car, and then i come back to the Government Center, and I go out, hand em out more. You know. I did this for like two to three hours. ”
Tod
St Paul resident and Black Lives Matter organizer.
“..Chief Arradondo know. He got shot at. He gotta drop to the floor, with his little chief. I was wondering what he was gonna do. ‘cause they shot at him too. The white supremacists. ”
Midtown
Market
Global
Abe
Immigrant, neighbor, and business owner.
“…your own city officials, that you support everything, nobody’s answering the phones. You’re on you’r own. How we gonna go this? We went for three, six, days. It was hard. It was very disturbing. I don’t want to think about it. Ahh, I mean. I appreciate you want to get out this um story out for other peoples. I don’t want to wish for anyone. It was very disturbing.”
Bill
Father, neighbor, and organizer.
“…what i see ahead of us is a city council and a mayor that have a difficult, very difficult road ahead making political decisions and we have institutions in the police force and the fire department, ahh, that have very, very difficult paths ahead in regaining the legitimacy of their institutions. And that’s going to be a long road. And I don’t know how it’s going to recover.”
Jeffrey
Husband, neighbor, and medical professional
“…by the time our neighborhood burned down i realized the government can’t help us. We have to help ourselves. And, how do we do that? And it wasn’t just you know, people staying at home wondering if they were going to get an email with directions. Everyone gathered. Everyone gathered at a time when we shouldn’t be gathering. In parks. Away from each other. With masks. And strategized.”
Tito
Immigrant, neighbor, and local worker.
“…right away, he take his gun off and he just, like, he just really put it in my forehead. And I hold the gun by my right hand, because I’m left hand, and I hold it and put in in my chest, through to my heart. I tell him “this is my heart. Here. if you want to make it, make it. but if you can’t, like really, just leave”. And he start like his hand shaking and stuff like that. I don’t know. LIke when. You will become a different person when someone treat you with a gun. Like really different. You’re not going to know who you are.”
Carla
Mother, neighbor, and interviewer.
“…the feeling in the building was not “we’re just fine, we just have to hunker down.” It was we have to make sure people don’t actually come in and, first of all destroy all the businesses that are on the first floor, and second, you know, get into our homes.”
Raja
Wife, mother, neighbor, and restaurant owner.
“…The people in the condos, all of them, they help us. Everybody go down, and some people they go to the roof, and they stay on the roof, and they watch all the nights until six in the morning, when lights coming out. And in the shyway, in all the doors, and the security also. They help us too. And the Philips community they send us some people to help us too.”
Ethan
Father, neighbor, and City employee.
“And so, you know, it was, it was an insane scene. And you just have to try to, you know, get used to it. But also, I don't think I would have had the courage to stay in there if Tito wasn't there as well. You know, having the pair of us, he gave me a lot of confidence.”
