Brooklyn Center unveils design for memorial to Daunte Wright
The city of Brooklyn Center has released its plans for a memorial to Daunte Wright, near where the 20-year-old Black man was shot and killed during a traffic stop in 2021.
The city had a neighborhood meeting about the memorial Monday night, and will have a presentation on the tribute to the City Council next week. City officials said the materials for the memorial have been ordered and the installation should be finished this fall.
The site will include a memorial rendering of Wright, fashioned from steel and granite, at the intersection of 63rd Avenue North and Kathrene Drive, where Brooklyn Center police pulled Wright over and attempted to arrest him on an outstanding warrant.
Wright instead got into his car and tried to flee. Brooklyn Center police officer Kimberly Potter, who is white, shot him as she stood beside his car. She said she’d meant to use a taser. She was convicted of manslaughter and has already been released after serving more than a year in prison.
The killing prompted a wave of civil unrest in the area, and also brought a large makeshift memorial to the residential street corner. The city had planned to remove the assorted tributes last year, prompting concern from Wright’s family and a public outcry about the significance of the commemoration.
The city eventually agreed to a permanent memorial, and worked with Juxtaposition Arts, a north Minneapolis art and design center, to come up with an appropriate art installation to be located on the city right-of-way at the intersection.
The design includes a small granite plaza, a portrait of Wright, a plaque and a planter, with symbols important to Wright, as well as a reference to a makeshift fist sculpture that long stood at the site.
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