A few days ago I spent some time in contemplation at the site where Philando Castile was shot and killed by St. Anthony police officer Geronimo Yanez in July 2016. I've posted about the site before and about the day after he was killed, not far from my house.
The suburb of Falcon Heights has just renamed that stretch of street after Philando, and as I saw the other day, there's an effort to raise money to build a Peace Garden on the site in his honor:
The garden design includes a circular bench, designed by Saint Paul artist Seitu Jones, that refers to the angles Philando's car seat was at. The arc is defined by points related to times and places in his life.
Last spring, plants were put into the garden area, according to some of the signs, including native perennials, but I didn't see signs of them yet when I was there. It's pretty early for newly planted native plants to be showing up.
Here are the memorials that are still there now:
It's a quiet place, other than the constant stream of car traffic going past.
I didn't see any cop cars. I've heard that enforcement of Driving While Black has declined greatly in Falcon Heights in the past five years.
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