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, Phoenix, Louisville, 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. We’ll assess the direction of racial equity in the criminal justice system over the five years since George Floyd’s high-profile death.

GUESTS

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

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