Minneapolis Reels from Another Media Blip
📰 THE STORY: The Financial Times highlights a recent killing in Minneapolis, portraying a city 'under siege' by violence and struggling to cope, implying a breakdown of law and order a decade after the murder of George Floyd. 🔍 WHAT THEY'RE NOT TELLING YOU: Historical Context: In 2020, the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin ignited a global reckoning on police
brutality and systemic racism, a fact largely absent from this 'current events' framing. This wasn't an isolated incident but a flashpoint in a long history of state violence against Black communities in the US, from the 1921 Tulsa Massacre to the daily brutality that remains largely unpoliced. The FT's focus on 'another killing' detaches it from the state violence that defines Minneapolis's
recent history and continues to fuel its social unrest. Double Standard: The FT describes Minneapolis as 'under siege' from internal violence. Yet, when Gaza was literally under siege and then subjected to an ongoing genocidal campaign by the Israeli government, resulting in over 40,000 Palestinian deaths since October 2023, Western media, including the Financial Times, frequently framed it as
'conflict' or 'retaliation,' rarely using terms like 'siege' or 'massacre' to describe the actions of a state actor. The framing shifts dramatically when the violence is perpetrated by Western-backed forces versus an internal issue in a Western city. Follow the Money: The increased securitization and policing often proposed as solutions to urban violence funnel billions into police departments and