Daunte Wright's Mom Prepared to Sleep at Son's Memorial to Prevent Removal

The Minnesota city where a police officer shot Daunte Wright last year is planning to take down the memorial built at the intersection where he died.

However, Wright's mother, Katie Wright, is objecting strongly to the move and said that she is prepared to erect a tent at the site and sleep there if that's what it takes to prevent the removal, the Star Tribune reported. "We've had to fight so hard from beginning to—is there an end? I wish there would be," she said.

It has been nearly a year since Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, was killed in Brooklyn Center on April 11, 2021. The fatal shooting, which took place as former police officer Derek Chauvin was on trial for the death of George Floyd, sparked protests around the country.

The former officer who shot him, Kimberly Potter, was convicted of first- and second-degree manslaughter in December and subsequently sentenced to two years in prison last month.

Katie, her husband Aubrey and family attorney Jeff Storms are scheduled to meet Tuesday with city manager Reggie Edwards and city attorney Troy Gilchrist to discuss the plans to take down the memorial, the Tribune reported. They hope to find a solution that will serve the interests of Wright's family and the community.

"Leave the memorial because it's honestly not hurting anybody but it will hurt a lot of people taking it down," Daunte's mother said.

She also told the Tribune that the city wants to take down the memorial, a statue of a large brown fist, because it blocks the sidewalk. While a path around the statue can be used in the warmer months, snow blocks the alternative route in the winter. The city has offered several ideas for a permanent memorial to replace it, but none of the offerings would be located at the exact site where Daunte died.

"If they want to not have memorials on their street corners they need to stop murdering our loved ones on street corners," Katie said, according to the Tribune, adding, that she's thankful the city is proposing alternative ways to commemorate her son, but thinks it's crucial to mark the spot where he was killed.

The site of Daunte's death, which is also decorated with flowers, signs and artwork, is not the first place the fist statue has been as it was originally from George Floyd Square—the memorial site in south Minneapolis where Floyd was killed.

"As a family, we want people to remember what happened there. I don't want it to go away. Once it goes away, it's forgotten about, it didn't happen," Katie said. "It's so easy for history to be erased when it's not right in front of our faces."

However, Edwards said in a March 11 email that Brooklyn Center anticipates "reopening the sidewalk/trail at 63rd and Kathrene early next week," according to the Tribune.

Newsweek has reached out to Edwards and the family's lawyer for comment, but did not hear back by publication time.

Update 03/14/22, 11:40 a.m. ET: This story was updated with additional information and background.