On May 25, George Floyd was murdered by white police officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis during a routine arrest. As the senseless cruelty of the killing rocked the nation, angry citizens have taken to the streets to protest police brutality and seek justice for Floyd’s family.
In many cities, protestors were pushed aside by looters who destroyed property and stole from local businesses. But after many of the protests subsided, community members quickly came together across the nation to help clean up their streets and support business owners.
Fox News correspondent Matt Finn recently shared heartwarming footage of men, women and children in Minneapolis cleaning up garbage and broken glass left behind by looters.
As you can see in the video that Finn tweeted, a diverse group of people — many of whom wore protective face masks — worked together in the hot sun to clean up their city:
An ARMY of volunteers in Minneapolis helping neighbors clean up business damage. “Bring a broom” they were told. What a sight. pic.twitter.com/OjzXpEXCLk
— Matt Finn (@MattFinnFNC) May 30, 2020
Similar scenes unfolded across the country. In Tampa Bay, Florida, NFL players Auden Tate, Isaiah Rodgers and Ray-Ray McCloud III joined local residents in cleaning up a downtown strip mall, according to this tweet from CBS Tampa reporter Grace Remington.
A wonderful act of service.
Tampa area football players — including Bengals WR Auden Tate, Bills WR Ray-Ray McCloud, Colts CB Isaiah Rodgers, USF QB Jordan McCloud — lead cleanup efforts on Fowler Ave after last night’s looting
pic.twitter.com/5zVOCKYpNA— Grace Remington (@GraceRemiWTSP) June 1, 2020
And Twitter user @katelynferral posted images of residents in Madison, Wisconsin, donning masks and picking up brooms to help bring order to the downtown businesses that were damaged by looters.
Scenes from cleanup on State Street in Madison this am, hundreds of people sweeping, scrubbing graffiti pic.twitter.com/ndnaHBvwEE
— Katelyn Ferral (@katelynferral) May 31, 2020
In downtown Seattle, people scrubbed graffiti off of buildings, as captured in this video tweeted by @TylerUnwin.
This is the scene all across downtown #Seattle right now. Hundreds of volunteers from all over, helping with cleanup from last nights protests. Amazing. #GeorgeFloyd @KIRO7Seattle pic.twitter.com/ZIUN0uxhrp
— Tyler Unwin (@TylerUnwin) May 31, 2020
In Chicago, which was hit hard by looters, dedicated citizens joined forces to help clean up their neighborhoods, according to this tweet from NBC Chicago reporter Chris Hush.
Residents coming out to clean this mess up. THIS is Chicago. @nbcchicago pic.twitter.com/KGokcLnQTL
— CHRIS HUSH (@ChrisHushNBC) May 31, 2020
Many of these helpers simply showed up to clean, while others organized clean-up efforts on social media. Even with COVID-19 concerns, these citizens were willing to put themselves in harm’s way in order to support their communities.
Meanwhile, many lawmakers and civil rights activists are urging people not to allow the actions of looters to tarnish the important efforts of protestors and the great work still needed to address racial inequality in this country.
“We cannot allow those who have taken advantage of this moment to loot and smash to also steal the voices of those expressing a need for real, meaningful change,” tweeted Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker. “That will not be our story here in Illinois.”
Our thoughts are with the family of George Floyd. To support a safer Minneapolis, you can donate to Reclaim the Block, and you can also donate directly to George Floyd’s family.