Anniversary of the prince’s death: five years later, Minneapolis’ girlfriend was in turmoil

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Nowhere does he feel truer than in the city he loved and helped put on the map, Minneapolis.

Racial conflicts existed in the city long before the assassination of George Floyd – a colleague of color who also adored Minneapolis. But the trial of the police officer who caused his death, along with police who recently killed another black man in Minnesota, Daunte Wright, increased racial tensions and attracted worldwide attention.

In many ways, it feels like the prince predicted that these days would come.

“Can anyone hear us pray? / For Michael Brown or Freddie Gray? / Peace is more than the absence of a war “, Prince sang in his 2015 protest song” Baltimore “, which was written after Freddie Gray died of his wounds from an arrest. by Baltimore police. “Will we see another bloody day?” / We are tired of crying and dying people ”.

“If there is no justice, then there is no peace,” Prince sang.

The man born Prince Rogers Nelson on June 7, 1958 died on April 21, 2016, at the age of 57, due to an accidental overdose of opioid fentanyl.
I grew up listening to his music and covered his death extensively for CNN, even writing about my experience participating in what would become his last night of concerts.

Five years later, I can’t help but reflect on what the man and the artist could have done with what was happening in his hometown. I imagine how broken he would have been, how he would probably have taken to the streets to protest the great art that could have come from his pain.

Minneapolis has become synonymous with Prince, perhaps against the odds.

He recounted some of his first encounters with racism when he was among students on the bus from northern Minneapolis to a predominantly white elementary school in the late 1960s.

“I went to school with rich kids who didn’t like having me there,” he recalled in his 2019 posthumous memoir, “The Beautiful Ones.” When the student called him the word N, Prince punched him. “I felt I had to,” he wrote.

“I was born here, unfortunately,” Prince said in an interview with his high school newspaper before becoming famous, according to Far Out Magazine. “I think it’s very difficult for a band to get into this state, even if they are good. Mainly because there are no big record companies or studios in this state.”

His fame and massive success found him anyway with his debut album, self-produced “For You”, which he released in 1978 at the age of 19.

He would become the architect of “Minneapolis Sound”, which endowed the world with groups and artists, including The Time, Sheila E. and super-producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.

Its Paisley Park complex has become not only his home, but a sacred space and now a tourist attraction. The hairdresser and his longtime friend, Kim Berry, spoke to me shortly after his death in 2016 about how much Prince loved his city.

“There are homeless people walking around Minneapolis right now, wearing coats from Prince and I don’t even know that,” Berry said at the time the singer did work through the Love 4 One Another Foundation.

And no matter how much he paid Prince Minneapolis, the city and its people immediately loved him and gave the star intense respect.
“He was free to do things here and not worry that the paparazzi were bothering him,” former Paisley Park security agent Lars Larson told CBS Minnesota Channel 4 in 2016. “I remember going on trips.” to Dairy Queen with her BMW. I don’t know if you can get rid of it in Hollywood. “

Prince has been more public about his work for racial equality.

He announced this while presenting the award for the album at the Grammy in 2015.

“Albums still matter,” he said. “Like books and black lives, albums still matter.”

According to his spiritual beliefs, Prince chose to keep his philanthropy quiet so as not to seek glory for himself.

But after his death, his friend and CNN contributor Van Jones spoke to Rolling Stone about the singer who works with him at Green for All, an organization that creates green jobs in disadvantaged communities, and #YesWeCode, which helps in educating young people in urban areas about technology.

Prince also sent money to Trayvon Martin’s family after the teenager’s death sparked demonstrations and he traveled to Baltimore for a concert to draw attention to Freddie Gray’s death.

The video for his single “Baltimore” ends with a quote from Prince.

“The system is defective,” the quote reads. “This time we will need young people to solve the problem. We need new ideas, new life …”

None of us ever imagined that Prince would not be around to see young people trying to do just that.

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