Photos: Taking Back Pride marches through downtown Minneapolis

Taking Back Pride marched through downtown Minneapolis on Sunday, drawing hundreds of people to — in the words of one organizer — "bring back the roots of what Pride is.”

With the traditional Twin Cities Pride festival canceled because of the pandemic, Taking Back Pride took to the streets. It began four years ago in protest of police presence at Twin Cities Pride, after a jury acquitted police officer Jeronimo Yanez of all charges in the death of Philando Castile. The verdict came less than two weeks before the Pride celebration that year.

Taking Back Pride

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Taking Back Pride, a collaboration of the Twin Cities Coalition for Justice 4 Jamar and 19 other organizations, has protested the police presence at Pride every year since. This year, the march within the march was a standalone event.

Sam Martinez, an organizer with Taking Back Pride and the Twin Cities Coalition for Justice 4 Jamar, told MPR News ahead of the event that one of the goals of Taking Back Pride is to center Black transgender people and increase their visibility in the LGBTQ movement.

Read and listen to more of that conversation here.

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