Welcome to the fourth issue of Place. We, like many others, have been consumed by feelings of frustration, anger, sadness and anxiety over the past weeks in the wake of continued violence against Black people in the US and around the world. Black lives matter. We adamantly support and stand with those who are protesting around the globe and the ongoing efforts to dismantle individual, institutional and systemic racism. In this week’s letter we’re discussing how spaces are built as tools of oppression, starting with the intersection where George Floyd was killed, as well as sharing resources on how to support Black Lives Matter around the world.
Place Letter is committed to continue this conversation and will seek out, commission and compensate BIPOC for future newsletters, as well as cover these issues ourselves. If you know a Black writer, photographer, illustrator or creative who you think would be interested in contributing to Place (not necessarily on race and/or protests, just anything related to our editorial mission) please send them our way. We have initially set aside $250 of our own money for contributions, and aim to make this an ongoing financial commitment. Please send us an email with feedback on what conversations we can provide regarding place, race, and supporting diverse voices. We are constantly learning and grateful to those who are sharing resources.
At Place, we believe that the experiences, sensations and conversations we have as we move about the world stay with us, stacking up as the years go by, forming who we are and the way we view the world. Do you have a letter to share? Send it to us at placeletter@protonmail.com. If you are interested in writing for Place you can find our inaugural pitch guide here. And be sure to follow us on Instagram @placenewsletter for a daily visual feast. Yours, The Place editorial team.
The places racism built
The intersection of East 38th and Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis. That’s the place George Floyd was murdered.
The streets are wide, two lanes plus extra shoulder space to accommodate green bike lanes (Minneapolis has a reputation as a cycle-friendly city), and space for parking, as car culture is still pervasive out of necessity in the frigid upper Midwest. There’s a church parking lot and a few storefronts. It’s an intersection that one might drive through on the way downtown, pulling over to refuel at the Speedway gas station. Or perhaps walk through on a warm Memorial Day evening, stopping into the corner convenience store, Cup Foods, as Floyd did last week.
Police officer Derek Chauvin killed Floyd at this intersection, tearing the final seams of Minneapolis’ ragged social contract and set off a movement that made people chant, march, rage and riot on streets around the world: Black Lives Matter. No Justice, No Peace. Silence is Violence. Abolish Police.
Protest in London. Photo: Karis Hustad
White Americans passing through such intersections existed largely without fear in Minneapolis. Where the police use force against Black people 7x the rate of whites, where Black youth make up 11% of the under-18 population but 30% of those detained in juvenile justice, where the Black poverty rate is 5x higher than it is for white people, and where income and education inequality are rank amongst the worst in the country. Where risk has been as conditioned as a part of Black life, as Theresa Okokon writes:
“I cannot accept that George Floyd was killed mere minutes from where my family lives, where my niece and nephews could have witnessed it. It messes me up to see images of so many people in the street, risking their lives and their bodies still unadapted to the coronavirus, forced to protest. I do not accept the message of protection and service emblazoned on the side of cop cars, when the men who exit those vehicles murder us. We are not safe. We cannot go for a jog. We cannot be in our own homes. We cannot go bird watching.”
Place and race are inextricably linked. Thriving Black neighborhoods have been razed to build interstates and violently destroyed by White people without retribution. Stark segregation by race and lack of investment in majority Black neighborhoods is a reality in cities, as due to racial covenants, redlining and ongoing lack of access to home purchasing loans. Navigating what has been deemed “white space” can make it difficult for Black people to access places for pleasure and health, without fear of being seen as out of place or, at worst, criminal (over-policing of Black people is rampant in Minneapolis). Take parks: Not only are White people are more likely to have access to public green space, public parks in the United States, such as New York’s Central Park where Chris Cooper captured Amy Cooper’s frantic racist 911 call on camera, were created to specifically serve the purpose of racial segregation.
“The rebellion you see across our country is fundamentally rooted in this conflict, rooted in the notion that Black lives are deemed disposable in white society, justified solely for the act of being — in place,” as Bryan Lee Jr., an architect and design justice advocate, writes. “For nearly every injustice in the world, there is an architecture that has been planned and designed to perpetuate it.”
Protest in Amsterdam. Photo: Bianca Ferrari
White supremacy is an insidious infrastructure that built the wealthiest nations and our current world order. It crippled countries through colonialism, trade routes and slavery. And it goes beyond one singular history, intersection, city, or country. It killed Breonna Taylor in her home in Louisville. It killed Ahmaud Abery on the street in Georgia. Outside of the United States solidarity protests have taken place across six continents, many chanting the names of victims of racism and police brutality, fueling ongoing calls for reform in their own countries. In the UK, protesters chanted the name of Belly Mujinga; in France, Adama Traoré; in Australia, David Dungay.
So what can be done? Alongside the calls for conviction of police officers, there is a larger movement to reclaim, rebuild and reshape the systems that shape our places. Protests, taking to the streets and converging on highways, are a statement that streets belong to people. Mutual aid networks connect people back to their communities. Police divestment, an action taken by University of Minnesota and others, allows institutions and schools to have power over the safety of their places. Defunding police can add millions to city budgets that could be reinvested in healthcare, education and affordable housing. Police abolition can connect people back to their communities rather than taking them out. It requires white people to reflect on how spaces have served them and punished others, and commit to life-long antiracist work.
“When our political activism isn’t rooted in a theory about transforming the world, it becomes narrow; when it is focused only on individual actors instead of larger systemic problems, it becomes short-sighted,” said Patrisse Cullors, a co-founder of Black Lives Matter, in Policing the Planet.
Protest in Aarhus. Photo: Jens Renner.
The intersection of East 38th and Chicago Avenue became a place of peaceful protest and justified rage. Now the street is a memorial painted in bright colors, centered around an altar of flowers and candles, visited by people from all over the city. It is still the place George Floyd was murdered. The white supremacy that so many chose not to see has been laid bare.
We cannot go back. We must build something better in its place.
Place Recommends
Over the past week we have been collecting and learning from different antiracist resources. We’ve included a few from across different geographies that we’ve found and have been submitted by readers. Please email us if you have any resources you would like to add.
USA
Donate: Bail funds, mutual aid networks, policy change, legal defense, victim funds, Minneapolis organizations, plus more (with options to donate time or streams too)
Sign: Petitions
Support: Black-owned restaurants, Black-owned businesses, LGBTQIA+ creative funds and ecosystems
Reflect: What it means to be anti-racist, anti-racist resources, what to say to racist family members, how to be a good white ally, 10 steps to non-optical allyship
Restore: Black mental health resources, QTPOC mental health practitioner directory
Today should have been Breonna Taylor’s 27th birthday. Sign a petition to fire the police officers who killed her, and support her family and loved ones.
UK: Black Lives Matter UK, anti-racist resources, Black-owned businesses to support, what isn’t taught about race and the UK, Black Lives Matter reading list, how people in the UK can help with justice for George Floyd, what to do if you can’t go to the in-person protests
Europe: Anti-racist resources (France), Black Lives Matter resources (Norway) how people can fight anti-Blackness in Europe
Brazil: Study centers on Afro-Brazilians
Mexico: The Alphabet of Mexican Racism
Lebanon: Information on and a petition to end the Kefala system, as well as a response to Tania Saleh regarding Black Lives Matter
Thank you to those who sent us these links!
We also recommend…
The importance of small town Black Lives Matter protests,
A playbook for inclusive placemaking,
Power struggles over race and place in Canada,
The oppressive design of American cities,
Understanding narrative framing of looting,
“Don’t tell me there are Nazis by the lake.”
Join us next week as we continue this conversation.