George Floyd was remembered six years after his murder as Minneapolis honored his legacy amid backlash and renewed calls for justice.
George Floyd has been dead for six years today, and the city where he died put out a statement on Elon Musk’s platform, which turned the comment section into a warzone.
The City of Minneapolis posted to X on the morning of May 25, 2026, writing that Floyd’s murder “forced our city to confront painful truths about race, public safety, and inequality,” calling every May 25 “a reminder of that grief and a renewed call to action,” and encouraging the public to “gather, be with community, and honor George Floyd’s life.”
The post racked up hundreds of thousands of views, and the replies section became exactly what researchers and civil rights advocates have been documenting about the platform for years.
Today marks the first time Floyd’s death anniversary has fallen on Memorial Day since the day it happened, and his nephew Brandon Williams put the mission plainly at the remembrance, calling it “not a one-person fight” and saying the goal is to make sure “the list of names doesn’t get longer.”
George Floyd was 46 years old when he died outside Cup Foods at 38th and Chicago in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020, after police responded to a call about an alleged counterfeit $20 bill.
Officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds while Floyd repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe and called for his mother, and a teenager standing on the sidewalk recorded the entire thing on her phone.
Hennepin County’s medical examiner recorded the manner of death as homicide, with the official cause listed as cardiopulmonary arrest brought on by the restraint and neck compression applied during the arrest.
— City of Minneapolis (@CityMinneapolis) May 25, 2026
What followed was one of the largest civil uprisings in American history. Protests and riots tore through more than 2,000 cities across the United States and reached over 60 countries internationally, with US authorities logging more than 14,000 arrests before July 2020 even started.
Minneapolis bore the worst of it domestically, with the city sustaining an estimated $500 million in damage, 164 confirmed arson fires and over 1,500 affected properties, including the Minneapolis Police Department’s Third Precinct building, which demonstrators overran and burned to the ground.
Nationally, arson, looting and vandalism caused between $1 billion and $2 billion in insured damages, the highest figure ever recorded for civil unrest in American history, though researchers found that 93% of individual protests across the country were peaceful and nondestructive.
A jury found Chauvin guilty on all three counts in April 2021 after less than 11 hours of deliberation: second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
He was sentenced to 22.5 years in state prison in June 2021 and later pleaded guilty in federal court to separate civil rights violations, pulling an additional 21-year sentence to run concurrently for using excessive force that caused Floyd’s death.
Six years out, the distance between what was promised after Floyd’s death and what actually survived is impossible to ignore.
**@*****MG.COM TO DISCUSS OTHER USAGES.**","created_timestamp":"1590854037","copyright":"InStar","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"Protests for George Floyd in Downtown Miami","orientation":"0"}” data-image-title=”Protests for George Floyd in Downtown Miami” data-image-description=”” data-image-caption=”<p>Protestors are seen walking through the streets of Downtown Miami during the protests for George Floyd.</p>
<p>Where: Miami, Florida, United States<br />
When: 30 May 2020<br />
Credit: InStar/Cover Images</p>
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” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/allhiphop.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/instar40536018-scaled.jpg?fit=413%2C300&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/allhiphop.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/instar40536018-scaled.jpg?fit=640%2C465&ssl=1″ role=”button” tabindex=”0″ aria-label=”Open image 1 of 8 in full-screen”srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/allhiphop.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/instar40536018-864×628.jpg?strip=info&w=600&ssl=1 600w,https://i0.wp.com/allhiphop.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/instar40536018-864×628.jpg?strip=info&w=900&ssl=1 900w,https://i0.wp.com/allhiphop.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/instar40536018-864×628.jpg?strip=info&w=1200&ssl=1 1200w,https://i0.wp.com/allhiphop.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/instar40536018-864×628.jpg?strip=info&w=1500&ssl=1 1500w,https://i0.wp.com/allhiphop.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/instar40536018-864×628.jpg?strip=info&w=1800&ssl=1 1800w,https://i0.wp.com/allhiphop.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/instar40536018-864×628.jpg?strip=info&w=2000&ssl=1 2000w” alt=”” data-height=”1862″ data-id=”6135029″ data-link=”https://allhiphop.com/?attachment_id=6135029″ data-url=”https://allhiphop.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/instar40536018-864×628.jpg” data-width=”2560″ src=”https://i0.wp.com/allhiphop.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/instar40536018-864×628.jpg?ssl=1″ data-amp-layout=”responsive”/>**@*****MG.COM TO DISCUSS OTHER USAGES.**","created_timestamp":"1590852426","copyright":"InStar","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"Protests for George Floyd in Downtown Miami","orientation":"0"}” data-image-title=”Protests for George Floyd in Downtown Miami” data-image-description=”” data-image-caption=”<p>Protestors are seen walking through the streets of Downtown Miami during the protests for George Floyd.</p>
<p>Where: Miami, Florida, United States<br />
When: 30 May 2020<br />
Credit: InStar/Cover Images</p>
<p>**ONLY AVAILABLE FOR SUBSCRIPTION CLIENTS. CONTACT IN**@*****MG.COM TO DISCUSS OTHER USAGES.**</p>
” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/allhiphop.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/instar40536011-scaled.jpg?fit=420%2C280&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/allhiphop.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/instar40536011-scaled.jpg?fit=640%2C427&ssl=1″ role=”button” tabindex=”0″ aria-label=”Open image 2 of 8 in full-screen”srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/allhiphop.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/instar40536011-942×628.jpg?strip=info&w=600&ssl=1 600w,https://i0.wp.com/allhiphop.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/instar40536011-942×628.jpg?strip=info&w=900&ssl=1 900w,https://i0.wp.com/allhiphop.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/instar40536011-942×628.jpg?strip=info&w=1200&ssl=1 1200w,https://i0.wp.com/allhiphop.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/instar40536011-942×628.jpg?strip=info&w=1500&ssl=1 1500w,https://i0.wp.com/allhiphop.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/instar40536011-942×628.jpg?strip=info&w=1800&ssl=1 1800w,https://i0.wp.com/allhiphop.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/instar40536011-942×628.jpg?strip=info&w=2000&ssl=1 2000w” alt=”” data-height=”1707″ data-id=”6135028″ data-link=”https://allhiphop.com/?attachment_id=6135028″ data-url=”https://allhiphop.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/instar40536011-942×628.jpg” data-width=”2560″ src=”https://i0.wp.com/allhiphop.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/instar40536011-942×628.jpg?ssl=1″ data-amp-layout=”responsive”/>**@*****MG.COM TO DISCUSS OTHER USAGES.**","created_timestamp":"1590851930","copyright":"InStar","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"Protesting Against George Floyd's Murder Continue in NYC","orientation":"0"}” data-image-title=”Protesting Against George Floyd’s Murder Continue in NYC” data-image-description=”” data-image-caption=”<p>Protestors rally against the death of Minneapolis, Minnesota man George Floyd at the hands of police on May 30, 2020. Floyd’s death was captured in video that went viral of the incident. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz called in the National Guard today as looting broke out in St. Paul.</p>
<p>Where: New York, New York, United States<br />
When: 30 May 2020<br />
Credit: InStar/Cover Images</p>
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<p>Where: New York, New York, United States<br />
When: 29 May 2020<br />
Credit: InStar/Cover Images</p>
<p>**ONLY AVAILABLE FOR SUBSCRIPTION CLIENTS. CONTACT IN**@*****MG.COM TO DISCUSS OTHER USAGES.**</p>
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<p>Featuring: General View (NYC Protestors)<br />
Where: New York, New York, United States<br />
When: 29 May 2020<br />
Credit: JOHN NACION/startraksphoto.com</p>
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A McKinsey Institute analysis found that close to 1,400 Fortune 1000 companies collectively committed $340 billion in racial equity pledges in the two years following the murder, and community leaders in Minneapolis had already been demanding accountability from entertainment figures exploiting Floyd’s name for shock value as those same pledges disappeared.
Unfortunatley, most of corporate America’s 2020 promises are either quietly dead or being dismantled under Trump administration executive orders targeting what the White House called “unlawful and radical DEI ideology.”
Trump revoked Biden’s executive order on police reform on his very first day back in office in January 2025, wiping out federal bans on neck restraints and no-knock warrants, and his DOJ then abandoned consent decree negotiations in both Minneapolis and Louisville while shutting down police investigations in multiple other cities.
Per NPR, Trump also issued a sweeping executive order granting police broader powers nationwide, lifting restrictions on military-grade weapons, banning DEI training in federal law enforcement, and threatening to cut funding to any city that tries to maintain civilian oversight boards.
Floyd’s uncle, Selwyn Jones, walked George Floyd Square with FOX 9 this weekend and said he keeps returning to “the nine minutes and 29 seconds, because the nine minutes and 29 seconds is what impacted the world,” while making clear he doesn’t believe enough has changed.
The sixth annual Rise and Remember Festival drew thousands back to Minneapolis with three days of programming that included community awards, live performances in honor of Prince and a candlelight vigil from George Floyd Square to the Say Their Names cemetery.
FOX 9 reports this will probably be the final event at the square before the city starts tearing it up for a redesign next month, with the Emmett Till family making an appearance and $50,000 in scholarships given out on the day. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said Floyd’s murder “changed our city forever” and acknowledged that while the city has worked hard on reform, “there is still more work ahead.”
The racist replies that flooded the Minneapolis post weren’t a surprise to anyone who has been paying attention to what X has become under Musk’s ownership.
UC Berkeley researchers published a study in February 2025 analyzing 4.7 million English-language posts and found that weekly hate speech rates on the platform climbed around 50% in the months following Musk’s October 2022 acquisition, with racism, homophobia and transphobia all increasing and hate posts pulling 70% more engagement than before the takeover.
The researchers also found that bots and inauthentic accounts didn’t decrease despite Musk’s repeated pledges to clean things up, and that the spike in hate held for at least eight months with no sign of letting up.
