Members of the St. Thomas community stand in silence on the OSF Quad honoring George Floyd on April 30, 2025. The university held a series of events to mark five years since Floyd’s murder. (Sumaii Gemechu/The Crest) 
A student placed a flag bearing the name of a person killed in police custody as part of the “Say Their Name” display. (Sumaii Gemechu/The Crest). 
Flags were made available for anyone passing by to write the name of someone killed at the hands of police. (Sumaii Gemechu/The Crest) 
The lone flag beneath the poster represented George Floyd, while the flags behind it symbolized all those who had been killed by police since his death. (Sumaii Gemechu/The Crest)
This spring marks five years since police murdered George Floyd on May 25, 2020 in Minneapolis.
The Department of Theology, Office for Mission, Racial Justice Initiative and Initiative on Restorative Justice and Healing at the University of St. Thomas co-hosted events at the beginning of the month to commemorate the tragedy.
On April 30, the library bell rang for nine minutes beginning at noon to mark the minutes that Derek Chauvin held his knee on Floyd’s neck. During this time, faculty and students gathered on the O’Shaughnessy-Frey quad. Theology students set up a “Say Their Names Flag Display” in the area where people could write the name of a person of color killed by police violence on a white flag and place it in the flowerbeds.
After nine minutes of silence, theology professor Benjamin Heidgerken encouraged others to add flags to the display and said that the display included more than 700 names, some dating back to the Civil Rights Movement.
“It’s important for us to find the time to remember that, still, African Americans — unarmed, African Americans — continue to die in police encounters at three times the rate of their white counterparts,” Heidgerken said.
On May 1, students gathered in the JRC to hear from a panel of speakers including Derrick Crim and Lynette Graham.
The panel’s goal was to bring together voices who have worked concretely in Catholic circles to address issues of racial justice and cultural empathy, according to the program.
Crim, of the St. Paul Seminary Cultural Empathy Committee, reflected on his reaction to Floyd’s murder in 2020.
“It was a very huge moment that I had a hard time absorbing. There were complexities to the moment that I could not sort out. I felt a range of emotions — some of which went back earlier in my life, to when I had experienced trauma due to racism and discrimination. I think it took about a year to look at it in my mind and heart correctly,” Crim said.
Graham, the St. Peter Claver Faith Formation Chair, said that there were times she didn’t feel wanted as a Black Catholic and described how her faith has intersected with her experience as a Black woman.
“We have not let George Floyd’s memory out of our space (the church),” Graham said. “We’ve got more fights ahead of us.”
To conclude the week of events, St. Thomas organizers encouraged the community to volunteer at Rise and Remember’s community cleanup day on May 3 at George Floyd Square.
Volunteers were invited to help repaint the memorial site and listen to live music from local bands.
People of all ages and backgrounds danced to the music, drew with chalk on the ground and sang along.
Ben Barry was at the square, listening to the music and talking with friends.
“I think sometimes it can be a little intimidating to come up to George Floyd Square, if you’re not up here often. But I think this is a great way to get people out in the community, and get people meeting their neighbors,” Barry said.
Bella Lostercame, a senior at Hamline University, said that she had never been to George Floyd Square before.
“I was in high school when George Floyd was murdered. It’s really powerful to be here and to see it, and to be in this space with these people,” she said.
MinneHONK!, a festival of activist street bands, brought music to George Floyd Square from noon until 4 p.m. on May 3 and 4 and invited community members to “just bring an instrument” if they wanted to join in.
Brass Solidarity, a band founded in 2021 in response to the murder of George Floyd and the ongoing fight in the movement for Black lives, led a series of call-and-response chants with positive affirmations and calls to action. They played songs like “This Little Light of Mine,” “Lift Every Voice and Sing” and “Change Gonna’ Come.”
The members of Brass Solidarity come from a variety of musical backgrounds and are united in using their talents to promote social justice and bring people together, according to their website.
Elijah Parks, a sophomore at a local high school and a member of the band, said that the group has been getting together every Monday at 5:30 p.m. at George Floyd Square since 2021 as an offering to the community.
“We’re hurt, we’re broken, but we’re still repairing ourselves bit by bit. But with the amount of deaths — which (are) all the names of all the victims within the past five years — it hurts to have to read every name on this road, but at the same time, it shows the people who we call soldiers, fighting for us. So I honestly think being here today is just a meaningful thing for Black people, both as a Black person and a Native person. And I’m glad to be able to support my community today,” Parks said.
“This is your invitation: if you want to ever join us, be part of the movement, the occupation. Bring a horn, bring percussion, bring your voice, bring yourself. Be in community with us,” a member of Brass Solidarity said to the crowd.
May 4 saw another day of festivities in Powderhorn Park, and the Mayday parade, ceremony and block party did not conclude until 9 p.m.
Just outside of the memorial site at George Floyd Square, a sign reads:
“George may be gone, but his legacy lives on in the movement for justice and equality. May we never forget his name, and may we continue to fight for a future where Black lives truly matter.”
Rise and Remember will be holding its annual community festival and candlelight vigil in remembrance of George Floyd and “those we have lost unjustly to the pervasive impacts of systemic racism,” from May 23 to 25, according to its events page.
Sabrina Thompson can be reached at thom4836@stthomas.edu.
