The Minneapolis Reckoning: Race, Violence, and the Politics of Policing in America

An urgent account of why it’s so difficult to reform the policeThe eruption of Black Lives Matter protests against police violence in 2014 spurred a wave of police reform.One of the places to embrace this reform was Minneapolis, Minnesota, a city long known for its liberal politics.Yet in May 2020, four of its officers murdered George Floyd.Fiery protests followed, making the city a national emblem for the failures of police reform.In response, members of the Minneapolis City Council pledged to “end” the Minneapolis Police Department.In The Minneapolis Reckoning, Michelle Phelps describes how Minneapolis arrived at the brink of police abolition. Phelps explains that the council’s pledge did not come out of a single moment of rage, but decades of organizing efforts.Yet the politics of transforming policing were more complex than they first appeared.Despite public outrage over police brutality, the council’s initiatives faced stiff opposition, including by Black community leaders who cal