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On May 25, 2020, the world watched in terror as George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American man, was murdered by white Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin, who knelt on Floyd's neck for nine and a half minutes while Floyd pleaded, "I can't breathe." Cellphone video of this horrific crime, taken by a teenager, triggered a global uprising against systemic racism and police brutality that led to the largest U.S. protest wave since the Civil Rights movement. Five years later, May 27, 2025, the date of Floyd's murder remains a bitter-sweet reminder of both the progress and the harsh challenges still ahead. This article considers policing developments, societal attitudes, and policy change since Floyd's murder, as well as examining the backlash and ongoing struggle for racial justice.
The Quick Response: An Outpouring of Activism and Vows
Floyd's death came at a time when there was rising social tension, and the COVID-19 pandemic was disproportionately affecting Black, Hispanic, and Native American groups and hate against Asians was rising. The world saw the video of Floyd's death, viewed by millions, and it was a wake-up call. Protests erupted in over 2,000 American cities and 60 countries, with millions flocking to the streets under the banner of Black Lives Matter (BLM), a movement that had been gaining traction since 2013 but reached full throttle in 2020. The #BlackLivesMatter hashtag drew over 1.2 million tweets on a single day in June 2020, and public approval for BLM rose to 67%, according to Pew Research Center statistics.
Following these demonstrations, governments, corporations, and institutions made lofty promises. State legislatures passed over 140 new police reform and oversight legislation in 2020-2021, such as banning chokeholds and no-knock warrants in such cities as Minneapolis. The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, introduced in 2021, aimed to address aggressive law enforcement tactics and racial bias but stalled in Congress due to disagreements over qualified immunity—a legal protection for officers against lawsuits. Corporations pledged billions to racial equity initiatives, and symbols of systemic racism, like Confederate statues and the Confederate battle flag on Mississippi’s state flag, were removed in response to public pressure.
The epicenter of the movement, Minneapolis, was leading the charge. The city settled a wrongful death lawsuit with Floyd's family for $27 million in 2021. A federal investigation of the Minneapolis Police Department launched in 2021 uncovered a pattern of excessive force and discrimination against Black and Native American citizens. By January 2025, a draft consent decree had been completed to impose reforms, including banning chokeholds and mandating officers to submit reports on their peers for violating the rights of citizens. These reforms have not been welcomed with open arms, however, and enforcement is still in the process.
Policing: Progress and Persistent Challenges
Five years on, the form of policing in the U.S. is both one of improvement and regression. In Minneapolis, things are slightly better between the police and the people. Mayor Jacob Frey described that police officers are coming back to community presence at George Floyd Square—the location where Floyd passed away, now a memorial site—after the area had become a "no-go zone" for officers in 2020. Police Chief Brian O'Hara stated in 2025 that officers are beginning to "heal" and feel a sense of pride in their work again. Nevertheless, MPD staffing dropped from nearly 900 officers in 2020 to under 600 due to retirements and resignations, only now starting to rebound.
Across the country, the picture is bleak. Despite the outrage when Floyd was shot, police shootings have risen each year, to at least 1,226 in 2024—a 18% increase from 2019, according to The New York Times. Black Americans remain disproportionately affected, over twice as likely to become police murder victims as white Americans. High-profile cases, including the 2024 unarmed death of Black Ohioan Frank Tyson, who echoed Floyd's "I can't breathe" before he died in custody, indicate the persistence of lethal tactics. While a few police departments have taken on reform, such as enhanced training on hazards of asphyxiation, the attempts did not stem the tide of violence. The federal effort on accountability has not worked either.
The Trump administration, at the start of its second four-year term in 2025, has set its sights on rolling back police accountability by proceeding to withdraw consent decrees from Minneapolis and Louisville (initiated after Breonna Taylor's 2020 murder). The Justice Department has abandoned probes of police forces accused of racial bias, while initiating an investigation into Chicago. This backdown reflects a broader unwillingness to system change, with critics arguing the momentum of 2020 has been replaced by a politics of "white grievance," terms The New York Times has used to describe the shift. Societal Attitudes: A Shift, Then a Backlash
Public sentiment around race and policing has followed a complex path.
In 2020, 77% of Americans believed that the focus on racial inequality was a change in how most Americans thought about these issues, with 34% categorizing it as a "major change." In 2025, 70% continue to see a change, but only 24% see it as major, a decline of 10%. Skepticism has arrived, with 72% of adults in 2025 saying that the focus on racial inequality did not result in concrete advances for Black Americans. Within Black America, 67% doubt the nation ever will be racially equal. The initial wave of corporate support for racial equity has also faded.
After 2020, companies invested huge amounts of money in fighting systemic discrimination, yet by 2025, the majority have shelved or quietly scaled back diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts. In Georgia, Black spiritual leaders protested in front of a Target store on May 26, 2025, calling for the business to restore diversity initiatives and follow through on financial commitments made in the wake of Floyd, according to X posts. The Rev. Al Sharpton, who gave a eulogy at Floyd's funeral, is planning a 2025 march on Wall Street to make corporations accountable, emphasizing the economic power of Black consumers. Photos of the movement have been erased in some cities.
Washington, D.C.'s Black Lives Matter Plaza, a powerful protest site in 2020, had its yellow lettering — a symbol that now signified the movement — taken away in March 2025 as part of a broader retreating from visibility of the movement. Meanwhile, there is plenty of misinformation going around, with false stories—e.g., that Floyd's killing was due to a drug overdose rather than police brutality—taking hold. Conservative politicos such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene called for a pardon for Chauvin, which Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison made it clear would not affect Chauvin's 22.5-year state sentence. Minneapolis: A City Changed, But Scars Remain
Minneapolis is changed, but the scars of 2020 remain.
George Floyd Square is officially a permanent memorial and has been the site of such events as the Rise and Remember Festival in 2025, which had hundreds come out for a candlelight vigil. But the neighborhood is economically distressed. Businesses near the square are losing money, and there is rampant crime. Local activist Alfred "A.J." Flowers Jr. has called for increased funding for Black-owned businesses, housing, and schools to rebuild the community. The 3rd Precinct police station building that was burned out in the 2020 riot is a controversial matter, with disagreement over whether it should be rebuilt or redeveloped. The "Defund the Police" call to action that went viral after Floyd's death has not yet happened as envisioned. In 2021, a Minneapolis ballot referendum to redefine the police was defeated by voters, and X posts indicate that police budgets have increased throughout the nation, with some users complaining the ruling class has chosen to invest in law enforcement over systemic change.
Minneapolis has nevertheless continued community engagement, with activists and citizens continuing to push for justice with mass action. The Broader Fight: A Generational Struggle Five years after Floyd was killed, the battle for racial justice remains a generation-long fight.
Reforms have taken hold in some areas—e.g., municipal bans on abusive policing and increased community oversight—however broader systemic change dreamed of in 2020 has been beyond reach.
The destruction of DEI efforts, skyrocketing police killings, and federal resistance to accountability demonstrate the deeply entrenched nature of systemic racism. But the struggle goes on. Activists like Shareeduh McGee, Floyd's cousin, will do everything to make his memory endure, reaffirming that his death must not be in vain. Floyd's story, detailed in the Pulitzer Prize-winning His Name is George Floyd by Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa, reveals the extent to which systemic racism goes back deep in his family's past, from slavery to his death in 2020. This is what it shows about the complexity of the battle—a battle not just for reform in the police, but economic justice, for access to schools, and for a confronting of society by society with a half-millennium of oppression. Looking Ahead: A Call to Action
As we mark five years since George Floyd's murder, the question remains: what will it take to bring lasting change? The 2020 uprisings showed what was possible with collective power, but the 2025 backlash is a reminder that change is not linear. With each move forward—local reform, community healing, and continued activism—there are forces that push back, from political resistance to disinformation.
In order to move forward, we must hold institutions accountable, not merely through policy but through constant pressure and economic coercion, as proposed by Sharpton. We must counter the narratives that delegitimize the movement, so that the killing of Floyd, and all the thousands like him, are not interpreted as lies. Most importantly, we must listen to the most-affected communities, respecting their visions for justice, equity, and healing.
George Floyd's daughter, Gianna, informed us in 2020 that "Daddy changed the world." Five years on, that change remains to be realized. The journey is long, but the struggle remains, fueled by the memory of a man whose last gasps became the rallying cry for a brighter, more just future.
If you’d like to explore specific aspects of this topic, such as the impact in a particular city or the role of corporate DEI rollbacks, let me know!
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