The city of Minneapolis has a big vision to turn the gas station near the intersection where George Floyd was killed into a permanent memorial and justice healing center for the community.
According to Tribune of the Stars, the city council voted unanimously to buy the closed Speedway gas station on Thursday (December 8). The city would have to shell out $200,000 of taxpayer funds and accept $420,000 from Realty Income Corp., which owns the parcel of land where the gas station is located.
The acquisition is expected to take place in early 2023. It will likely take years to city officials and the community to determine a timeline for the completion of the proposed healing center and memorial. The City also plans to acquire the building that once housed a convenience store at the intersection.
Since his death in 2020, the place has served as a communal site for people to remember Floyd and a gathering place for protesters. As most people know, the 46-year-old took his last breath as former officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
In April 2021, Chauvin was sentenced second degree manslaughter, third degree murder and second degree manslaughter. It was the first time in the city’s history that a white officer had been convicted of the wrongful killing of a black man. Chauvin was sentenced to more than 22 years in prison.
REVOLT recently reported that former officer J. Alexander Kueng was sentenced to more than three years in prison after pleading guilty to aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter by kneeling on Floyd’s back in conjunction with Chauvin’s actions. Two other disgraced former officers, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao, were also convicted of stripping Floyd of his civil rights. Like Kueng, Thao was convicted for failing to intervene when Chauvin used excessive force.
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