mardi 9 mai 2017
1 Female Legislator's "White Male" Comment Sent These White Males Spinning
When Minnesota House members met to discuss a bill regarding harsh penalties for protesters that block major roads, Melissa Hortman, the Democratic-Farmer-Labor minority leader, noticed that some of her colleagues were missing. During the meeting, Democratic state Rep. Ilhan Omar gave a speech about the bill. She explained that if these harsh penalties were in order, movements like Black Lives Matter would not exist, but Hortman wasn't satisfied with lack of legislators on the floor.
Hortman pointed out that not only were her male colleagues not present to hear Omar's speech, but they also missed other amazing speeches made by women opposing the bill because they were in the retiring room . . . and she did not hold back with these thoughts. "I hate to break up the 100 percent white male card game in the retiring room, but I think this is an important debate," Hortman said.
As expected, her comment did not sit well with some of the male legislators, especially Republican Rep. Bob Dettmer. "I'm a white male," he said. "I respect everybody. But I really believe the comments that were made by the minority leader were really not appropriate. Minority leader, would you apologize to the body?" Hortman refused to back down.
"I have no intention of apologizing," Hortman said. "I am so tired of watching Rep. Susan Allen give an amazing speech, Rep. Peggy Flanagan give an amazing speech; watching Rep. Jamie Becker-Finn give an amazing speech, Rep. Rena Moran give the most heartfelt, incredible speech I've heard on this House floor as long as I can remember; watching Rep. Ilhan Omar give an amazing speech, and looking around to see where are my colleagues?"
She added: "And I went in the retiring room and I saw where a bunch of my colleagues were, and I'm really tired of watching women of color, in particular, being ignored. So, I'm not sorry." If we were there, this would be the moment we burst out into applause.
But Dettmer was not alone in feeling offended by Hortman's statement during the meeting. Republican Rep. Greg Davids told a local Minnesota publication that he believes she should resign for her "racist" comment. "I was greatly offended by Hortman's racist statement about white males," he told the Post-Bulletin. "I believe her comments have created a very hostile working environment."
Watch the video above to see how the House members handled Hortman's comment about sexism in the courtroom.
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