When DFL House Minority leader called out her white male counterpart, they had the gall to demand an apology. Her response was epic.
DFL Party House Minority Leader Melissa Hortman offends the status quo
Everyone should have an ally like Minnesota Democratic Farmer Labor Party (DFL) House Minority Leader Melissa Hortman. She stood up and called out a group of her white male counterpart for their utter disrespect for women and particularly women of color in the Minnesota legislature. And she did it unapologetically.
According to The Uptake,
House members were debating a bill that would add harsher penalties for shutting down a road or freeway as part of a protest — a tactic that Black Lives Matter had successfully used this past year in drawing attention to its cause.
Rep. Ilhan Omar had just given a speech connecting the action of Black Lives Matter protesters back to the civil rights protests in Selma, Alabama — where state troopers brutally assaulted protesters — an event that came to be known as “Bloody Sunday.”
Hortman noticed that several of her male colleagues were not on the floor listening to the speech and made a “call of the House”, a motion that brings members back to the floor. “I hate to break up the 100 percent white male card game in the retiring room, but I think this is an important debate.”
Rep. Bob Dettmer (R-Forest Lake) was upset and demanded that Hortman apologize. Her response was epic.
“Representative Dettmer I am glad you asked me to yield,” Hortman said. “I have no intention of apologizing.”
Hortman then pointed out woman after woman who gave great speeches on the floor. She said when she looked around for her white male colleagues, they were generally gone to the retirement room.
“And I am really tired of watching women of color, in particular, being ignored,” she implored. “So I am not sorry.”
Dettmer then made a sly comment about not being able to make a similar comment without repercussions.
“Minority Leader, I do forgive you,” Dettmer ended his statement disingenuously.
Soon after Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Muslim woman stood up and read the definition of racism to try to enlighten many of these guys who are yet to realize that the days of the good-old-boy network is dead. We are making our society more equitable. And those that attempt to fight it will ultimately fail.
DFL House Minority leader Melissa Hortman is the definition of an ally. Women like her are playing a part in making a better society.
(h/t RawStory, The Uptake)