The Rest of the Story: A look at a high profile leader and the lawsuits behind the 2020 George Floyd protests in Des Moines
Just Voices' Volume 2 of “The Peoples History” will be available soon and detail the impact of the 2020 George Floyd protests in Des Moines, Iowa.
By Just Voices
On May 25, 2020, George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Because his murder was being recorded and shared on social media, we saw with our own eyes, and in living color, the brutality of that murder.
In March of 2024, Just Voices released the first volume of “The People’s History: A Study of the 2020 Protests in Des Moines, Iowa.”
The study was intended to fill the vacuum created when the Des Moines Police Department failed to engage in any in-depth review and analysis of the performance of the DMPD during the protests following George Floyd’s murder.
This review, often called an after-action review, was done by many police departments across the country following a tumultuous summer filled with hundreds of protests nationwide. In Iowa, the Iowa City Police Department produced such a review. We believed then, and remain convinced today, that an after-action review is an important step for the Des Moines police department.
What really happened during the summer of 2020 protests? Just Voices Iowa releases ‘The People’s History’ study
Why Volume 2 Now?
After the recent 5th anniversary of Floyd’s murder, we are appalled that Des Moines continues to refuse to conduct a true after-action review and share it with the public.
We are proud of the inaugural issue and the volunteers who helped write it. It has the timelines, the data and powerful images. But most of all, we are proud to give witness to the stories of the people who were wrongly and violently arrested and charged with criminal conduct for exercising their constitutionally-guaranteed right to protest.
The report was well-received and garnered local media attention. You can read it on our website.
Police Violence Continues Here and Nationwide
The story of the 2020 protests in our country and in Des Moines, Iowa did not end with the final protest in the fall of 2020. So, right now Just Voices is creating Volume 2 of “The People’s History” to continue sharing the data and the impact the protests had on people’s lives. The ongoing story includes the fact that police across our nation killed 2,024 people in 2024, per The Washington Post. This is the most people killed in one year by police since such records have been kept.
Des Moines police officers have killed four people in recent years:
Travontay Jenkins (age 16)
Weston Dean Derby (age 45)
Joshua Dean Green (age 37)
Charles Leonard (age 70)
What you’ll learn from Volume 2 of “The People’s History”
This issue will include information about the criminal prosecution of the leaders of the Des Moines Black Liberation Movement. In fact, we’ll share an in-depth profile of one of the founding and arguably one of the most well-known leaders of DSM BLM, Matthew Bruce.
And we will attempt to answer the most obvious question people may have: What’s changed at the DMPD since 2020? We intend to talk about the modest reforms that have resulted in Des Moines police practices as a result of pressure by the advocacy community, including Just Voices.
So many lawsuits against the DMPD
In Volume 2 of “The People’s History,” we are going to share several individual stories of the people who filed lawsuits and how those lawsuits turned out. What were the outcomes of lawsuits filed by 24 people seeking compensation for the harm they had suffered by the actions of Des Moines Police during the protests? Volume 2 will explain:
The reason these lawsuits were brought
The manner in which the city defended these lawsuits
A description of the barriers that our current legal system has in place to prevent individuals who have been harmed by the police from recovering
And finally, to share the story of how the city came to pay out $1.4 million to settle these lawsuits.
In addition, we’ll include a profile of one local attorney, Gina Messamer, who represented most protesters and won most cases. Finally, we’ll detail the kinds of force used by the DMPD based on our research and analysis of all use-of-force reports submitted by police officers in 2020.
Most importantly, we hope you learn and take action to end racially-biased and unjust policing in Des Moines, Iowa. We are going to continue to speak the truth and seek justice as we realize our mission.
Expect Volume 2 of “The People’s History: A Study of the Summer of 2020 Protests in Des Moines, Iowa” to be completed by June of 2025. We are grateful to Black Iowa News for its willingness to publish some of these stories and essays in advance, just as they did for Volume 1.
We look forward to each of you who is moved by these stories to join us on the path to a more just and fair public safety system! If you’d like to know how you can help, reach us via email at info@justvoicesiowa.org.
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Dana James, founder & publisher of Black Iowa News, an independent digital and print media company, is a member of The Iowa Writers Collaborative. Follow and support members of the Iowa Writers Collaborative.
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