Native America Calling: Five years after George Floyd’s death, racial justice advocates watch momentum whither

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Native America Calling: Five years after George Floyd’s death, racial justice advocates watch momentum whither

Friday, May 23, 2025

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Five years after George Floyd’s death, racial justice advocates watch momentum whither

On the eve of the five-year commemoration of George Floyd’s death, the Trump administration is withdrawing Department of Justice (DOJ) oversight for police departments in Minneapolis, Minnesota; Phoenix, Arizona; Louisville, Kentucky; and other cities where the DOJ previously found civil rights violations against Native Americans and other people of color.

Floyd’s murder by a Minneapolis police officer prompted global calls for accountability for long standing inequities. Now, Native American racial justice advocates say any progress toward improving unbalanced treatment by law enforcement agencies is stalled, at best.

Tune into Native America Calling to assess the direction of racial equity in the criminal justice system over the five years since George Floyd’s high-profile death.

“I Can’t Breathe”: A Native woman is seen at a George Floyd rally in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 26, 2020. Photo courtesy Jeff Schad / Jeff Schad Imagery (jeffschadimagery)

Guests on Native America Calling

Mary LaGarde (White Earth Band of Ojibwe), executive director of Minneapolis Indian Center

Yohuru Williams, distinguished university chair and professor of history and founding director of the Racial Justice Initiative at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota

Rev. Jim Bear Jacobs (Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians), program director for Racial Justice at the Minnesota Council of Churches

Maurice Franklin (Muscogee Creek, Chickasaw, and Choctaw Freedmen descendent), professor of public administration and policy at California State University Northridge, adjunct professor at CUNY Hostos Community College, and a founding member of the National Black Justice Coalition