What you are about to read and watch is stranger than fiction. It’s so racist and so outrageous, that people are questioning whether or not it’s satire from The Onion. It’s real though, and that’s what is so shocking and heartbreaking about the whole ordeal.
Getting their picture taken above is the mayor of Minneapolis, Betsy Hodges, with Navell Gordon, a young volunteer from the respected Twin Cities charity, Neighborhoods Organizing for Change.
To better understand the context, please take just one minute to watch the beginning of the video below. Pay particular attention at 0:32-0:39 as Navell and Mayor Hodges share a clumsy “how do we pose in this photo together” moment.
You have to watch this video to believe it. It literally may be the most racist news story of all of 2014. It’s so outrageous and has such a phony feel to it that it seems almost like a practical joke—except it’s completely real. In it, current and retired police officers claim that Mayor Hodges has put the safety of officers in serious risk by her deliberate and flagrant action.
