Minneapolis mayor tells Maddow the George Floyd protests are about '400 years of institutionalized racism’

The mayor of Minneapolis put the city's protests of police in historical context during a Thursday evening appearance on MSNBC.

Mayor Jacob Frey was interviewed by the host of "The Rachel Maddow Show" as the city braces for another night of protests against the lack of arrests in the killing of George Floyd.

"Before we get going, I did want to address things after what transpired last night, and I have a very simple message for residents and community members within our city: we need peace. If you are feeling anger or sadness, I get it, it is not only understandable, it is righteous. But we cannot allow that anger and sadness to so negatively impact our communities, we can't be looting some of the community institutions that we need the most right now, especially during a pandemic," Frey said.

He explained, "we're not just talking about five horrid minutes of mistreatment of our black community, and specifically of George Floyd, we're talking about 400 years worth of institutionalized racism. We're talking about intentional segregation and restrictive covenants that run with the land and disparities in health and income and water and treatment -- and pretty much every single facet of life."

"So this particular five minutes stands on a very long history of wrongful conduct, and we do need to be better," he urged. "We need to acknowledge it."

"We need to embrace that reality and then we need action," he explained. "You know, and the first action that I believe needs to come is the charge. We need a charge of the arresting officer in this case."

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