A Minneapolis student and lifelong resident recently spoke out about the violent, radical place her hometown has become, declaring that she is moving out of Minneapolis and hopes to never go back.
Grace Bureau, who has interned for the Center of the American Experiment, wrote in a recent opinion piece published by The College Fix that she is now “too afraid” to walk alone in the Minneapolis neighborhood she grew up in.
“The ACE Hardware down the street? The one that I used to bike to in the summer? Robbed twice in the past five days,” Bureau wrote. Molotov cocktails have been launched into the Walgreens next to her elementary school, and homeless camps now line the Lake Harriet Bandshell, she said.
“I’ve spent the past year watching this city crumble. Burning it wasn’t enough,” Bureau noted.
The autonomous zone at 38th Street East and Chicago Avenue, which Bureau said is 10 minutes from her house, still stands, blocked to police officers and residents. Activists running the site say they won’t give up the street until their list of 24 demands is met by the city.
Several shootings and at least four homicides have occurred in the autonomous zone, where officers and medical personnel sometimes have to fight their way to victims, at which point it is too late.
Homicides increased by 70% last year, while carjackings and stabbings have become commonplace in the streets of Minneapolis.
Bureau wrote that carjackers often speed into the autonomous zone “to escape officer pursuit.”
This “no-go zone” at George Floyd Square now offers instructions to white people who visit, advising them to watch their “volume, pace, and movements” while visiting.
“You distinguish between rioters and protesters? Racist,” Bureau said in her op-ed. “You do not want Marxist-inspired racial justice theories to be promoted in schools? Racist.”
Minnesota is currently revising social studies standards for schools, the first draft of which focused on systemic racism and racial equity. The first draft received thousands of comments from concerned residents, who were then deemed “white supremacists,” “racists,” and “harmful.”
Bureau pointed to the lack of leadership in the city of Minneapolis and in the state, saying the only leaders to stand up are “crazed politicians” like Maxine Waters and John Thompson.
A potential leader in the form of a Minneapolis City Council candidate recently encouraged rioters to burn down the wealthy neighborhood of Lake of the Isles, claiming it “won’t be missed.”
“Where did it all go wrong?” Bureau wondered, indicating that it could have been any number of reasons: the liberal mob, identity politics, cries of “racist,” conservative silence, acceptance of Minneapolis as a “blue area” — to name a few.
“Illogical, inconsistent, overly oppressive COVID-19 restrictions” acted as a backdrop to everything else that happened in Minneapolis over the last year, Bureau wrote.
“I’m leaving this dark, surreal, twisted version of Minneapolis on Friday. And I pray to God that I never have to come back.”
Rose Williams
Rose Williams is an assistant editor for Alpha News.
