Top Minnesota House Democrat Melissa Hortman has had enough disrespect from her white male colleagues who continually leave the House floor and head to the break room (called the “retiring room) whenever Democratic colleagues have the floor. She became especially agitated when they left the floor for an impassioned speech on police brutality:
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.”
The retiring room is a room only for House members located behind the speaker’s podium.
Rep. Bob Dettmer (R-Forest Lake) stood up and asked Hortman to apologize. “I’m a white male. I respect everybody. But I really believe that the comments made by the Minority Leader were really not appropriate.”
“I have no intention of apologizing,” said Rep. Hortman. She said she was “really tired of watching women of color in particular being ignored. So I’m not sorry.”
She was totally fed up with the disrespectful behavior of fellow lawmakers:
"I thought it was very disrespectful. I thought it was impolite, I thought it was rude and I thought it needed to be called out," Hortman said.
"This is a new thing, members sitting in the back playing cards for extended periods of time. There is a whole new level of disrespect and disregard for debate and discussion," she said, adding, "I don't know a lot of people who get to sit for two hours and play cards and ignore what everyone else at their workplace is doing."
A spectacular moment in the Minnesota state house. Rep. Ilhan Omar then stood to get Hortman’s back, reading the definition of “racism” and explaining to their colleagues that Hortman’s comments clearly did not meet the definition.
Watch this brilliant moment. Enough is enough!