On Sunday afternoon, a veto-proof majority of Minneapolis City Council members will announce their commitment to disbanding the city's embattled police department, which has endured relentless criticism in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, on May 25.
"We are here today because George Floyd was killed by the Minneapolis Police Department. We are also here because, here in Minneapolis and in cities across the United States, it is clear that our existing system of policing and public safety isn't working for so many of our neighbors," Minneapolis City Council President Lisa Bender said in a written statement Sunday. "Our efforts at incremental reform have failed."
The City Council's decision follows those of several other high-profile partners, including Minneapolis Public Schools, and the University of Minnesota, and Minneapolis Parks and Recreation, to sever longstanding ties with the MPD.