The Snowflakes

You meet a new friend.  You go for a walk with the new friend.  As you're strolling down the street, you notice an African American family walking towards you.  Your friend abruptly demands the two of you go to the other side of the street.  You comply, but as you think over what just happened, you decide to ask your new friend, "did you cross the street to avoid the African American family?"  Your new friend insists they never meant for that to be the outcome.  They only wanted to see what was in the store window on the other side of the street.  You feel relived, but part of you wonders...

Now imagine the new friend does the same thing every time they encounter a minority approaching them on the sidewalk, over and over and over again.  Each time, your friend insists they're not racist.  They only wanted to see something on the other side of the street.  Their track record starts telling the real story.

Your new 'friend' is the Minnesota Republican Party, only instead of crossing the street, EVERY bill they introduce seems to be dripping with a racist undertones which can no longer be casually explained away.

So far in 2017, the MNGOP have introduced an anti-protester bill, written in direct response to the Black Lives Matter protesters successful protests in the Twin Cities.  They introduced a 'Stand Your Ground' bill after the white racist who gunned down 6 unarmed African Americans at the 4th Precinct protest was found guilty; a bill which would have made the racist's actions legal.  They introduced the Preemption Bill, written to prevent individual cities from writing their own labor/wage laws, even when the state doesn't address inadequate labor/wage concerns; a bill which was written specifically to reign in the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, cities where Republicans have very little say in political office as they've abandoned all attempts at formulating a platform to win over inner city voters. And they've introduced a transportation bill which cuts busing in the metro core by 40%(!!!), defunds light rail lines (proposed and existing), and offers zero major road construction money for the soon to be twice as packed highways; transportation cuts CLEARLY geared at hurting the inner city populations of the Twin Cities.

The MNGOP might be able to dismiss one bill, but every bill they introduce has undeniable negative consequences for the minority, poor and inner city population, almost as if THAT was the primary goal of the bill, and the rest of the bill was written to give the MNGOP a thin veil of cover as they argue legitimacy.

An then there's the undeniable racism double standard the Minnesota House GOP has been displaying with the Rep. Melissa Hortman affair.  Rep. Hortman, the House Minority Leader, while the House was debating the MNGOP's racist anti-protester bill, made some observations.  While the Democrats were speaking, specifically the handful of minority female Democrats serving in the Minnesota House, many members of the all caucasian MNGOP were not on the floor.  Instead, they were in an anti-chamber off the House floor, watching a baseball game, while a group of white men played cards.

This was the GOP's own bill, a bill they screamed wasn't racist, but here they were, being belligerently disrespectful as the few minority House members spoke against it.  Rep. Hortman made a call to order and forced all of the House members back to the floor, stating "I hate to break up the 100% white male card game in the retiring room, but I think this is an important issue."

Recapping: There WAS an all white male Republican card game going on in the back room while the House was in session, debating THEIR bill.  But of course, the MNGOP was outraged by the "white male" comment, focusing their manufactured indignity in an attempt to hide their unacceptable behavior.  They demanded Hortman apologize.  She refused.  They wrote a letter condemning her, to be put into the official record, right before the House retired for Easter recess.  When the House returned to session, Rep. Hortman submitted her own letter, continuing to refuse to apologize for stating something factual.  Republican Speaker Kurt Daudt dismissed her justified letter, and her rightfully standing up for herself, as grandstanding, while at the same time insisting the Republicans, who WERE being unGodly disrespectful while their racist-ee bill was being debated, screamed at Hortman "How dare you!", demanded she apologize for saying something factual, never once acknowledged their unacceptable behavior, talked down to her when she refused to apologize, and snuck the protest letter into the record, they were the party that was trying to let it go.  Please!

Republican Rep. Jim Newberger made an undeniably racist comment on the House floor a few years back.  Republican Rep. Nolan West has a long history of absolutely disgusting racist comments, the absolute worst kind of racist rhetoric.  Republican Rep. Tim Miller called for a "civil war" against what one could only presume to be fellow Minnesotans.  Republican Senator Dave Osmek has a bad habit of using he term "wet dream" in his official Senate correspondence with Minnesotans.

Not one Republican has demanded any of these Republicans apologize for their behavior and/or comments.  Not one Republican has written a letter to be put into official House record condemning these white men's actions.

But the term "white men" being used by a Democrat in a less than flowery, FACTUAL statement has these delicate snowflakes clutching their pearls.

MNGOP, you're racists, or at the very least you embrace a lot of racist things.  You're disgusting people.  Is that clear?

Who are we kidding, they're probably currently writing a letter condemning me, because I labeled the actions of the four Republican Buffoons of the Apocalypse with the term 'white men.'  How dare I...