Minnesota Governor Tim Walz on Wednesday made his first visit to the site in Minneapolis where George Floyd, an African American man whose death while in police custody sparked a week of protests around the world, died.
A makeshift memorial with tributes to Floyd is at the site, where Walz called for justice and an examination of racism.
At the site, Walz personally apologized to the CNN reporter and camera crew who were arrested last week during protests.
Walz said he had to come to the site to personally and viscerally feel the pain the community is feeling over Floyd’s death, the latest in series of deaths of African Americans in encounters with police.
Walz told CNN the protests and subsequent discussions about systemic racism in the United States were providing leaders with what he thought might be the last, best chance to address the issue.
“I don’t think we get another chance to fix this in this country. I really don’t,” he said.
