After George Floyd’s homicide in Could 2020, the location the place it occurred – the intersection of thirty eighth Road East and Chicago Avenue South – grew to become a group point of interest. Individuals from throughout got here collectively to pay their respects, mourn and picture a greater world. Protest indicators, flowers and artwork saved amassing – till individuals began taking them from the memorial.
That is the place Jeanelle Austin – now the manager director of the George Floyd World Memorial – and different group members stepped in. They reclaimed choices that acquired thrown away and created requirements and guidelines for the day by day caretaking of the location now referred to as George Floyd Sq.. However even then, the size of the memorial was nonetheless changing into an excessive amount of. So that they reached out to George Floyd’s household to see what they’d like finished with it.
The reply that they got here to was to determine a brand new group, known as the George Floyd World Memorial. Along with the preservation and conservation of the greater than 5,000 choices left on the intersection, the group works to attach individuals to their significance by way of guided pilgrimages and public installations. On this episode of the Off the Charts podcast, Jeanelle and Methodist Hospital president Jennifer Myster be part of us to debate the method of this work and the way the hospital got here to host an exhibit. Take heed to the episode or read the transcript.
By the individuals, for the individuals
Since George Floyd Sq. was a public set up created by the group, George Floyd World Memorial wished its work to be an extension of that dynamic and spirit. They allowed native organizations to bid on internet hosting an exhibit, with the one requirement being that the house be freely accessible to the general public. HealthPartners received the bid and chosen Methodist Hospital because the venue.
To maintain the spirit of group within the course of, volunteers from Methodist Hospital collaborated with Angela Harrelson, George Floyd’s aunt, to resolve on the items that may be displayed and the way they’d be displayed. The exhibit, titled “I Am Not You. You Are Not Me. Therapeutic Begins with Acceptance.” ran from January to March 2023 and included greater than 100 choices and artwork items from George Floyd Sq.. Jeanelle and Jennifer noticed it as a productive, subversive type of disruption: individuals have been drawn into the house, into reflection and into dialog.
Wanting again to maneuver ahead
Jeanelle makes the purpose that we will’t take a look at Black wellness in america in a vacuum – the discrimination Black individuals expertise within the U.S. is systemic and historic. Due to this fact, Jeanelle argues, now we have to grasp the previous so as to make progress within the current.
Within the case of well being fairness, which means understanding the components which have traditionally knowledgeable Black well being and the connection that Black individuals have with well being care. We are able to’t assess Black well being with out accounting for the truth that Black slaves have been primarily fed meals scraps and animal intestines. We are able to’t undo the mistrust that some Black individuals have for care programs with out understanding the historical past of unethical medical experimentation that Black individuals have been subjected to.
The identical goes for George Floyd, and for police violence in direction of Black individuals normally. Now we have to grasp that George Floyd and different victims of police violence are modern examples of lynching, a lot in order that Jeanelle advocates for utilizing that phrase particularly. It refers back to the public, symbolic which means of the violence: if you’re Black in America, that is what can occur to you.
However George Floyd additionally demonstrates the methods now we have to work in opposition to historical past. The place lynchings have been as soon as used to manage individuals by way of worry, the homicide of George Floyd impressed anger, revolt and an outpouring of affection. Individuals throughout the globe responded by protesting the system that enabled his demise, and folks nearer to residence additionally responded by constructing group. Even now, George Floyd World Memorial sustains these energies and encourages individuals to mirror on the importance and affect of his demise.
This work can’t happen solely in response to excessive examples of discrimination – it should prolong proactively to each type that discrimination takes, in each system the place it’s enabled. It’s lots, and it may be uncomfortable, nevertheless it’s how we develop in direction of one thing higher. To listen to extra from Jeanelle and Jennifer about collaboration, group and what internet hosting the George Floyd World Memorial Artwork Exhibit has meant for Methodist Hospital, take heed to this episode of Off the Charts.
