When Renee Good was shot by an ICE officer on Portland Avenue South in January, it shook me. For 20 years, I lived half a mile away on 35th Street. I was always in that Central neighborhood—eating Korean barbecue at Midtown Global Market on Lake Street, creating community murals with artist Reggie LeFlore at Funky Grits on Chicago Avenue, and, as a TV news reporter, getting chased out of Prince and Mayte’s wedding at Park Avenue United Methodist.
As the videos of the grief and rage from the shooting came flooding in from friends and social media, I was engulfed by a strong sense of déjà vu.
I left Minnesota in the winter of 2020 for an invitation to new experiences and a new art scene in Southern California. Three months after I settled in, George Floyd was murdered. I watched helplessly as Lake Street went up in flames. I threw up twice. I checked in on friends, then finally pulled it together and organized a nationwide online discussion in the arts community about the impact Twin Cities artists were having on a pivotal moment in civil rights history. I wanted to help the people I loved and cared about process the pain and anger they were feeling and navigate the anxiety about what would come next…