In Letter Friday, DFL Members Say Elected Officials Have “Duty to Reject Rhetoric that Endangers Constituents”
SAINT PAUL, Minn. – Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy (DFL- St. Paul) said the entire Senate DFL Caucus has joined a letter calling on Republican legislators to publicly repudiate President Trump’s hateful and dehumanizing statements this week about Minnesota’s Somali Community, saying all elected officials have a responsibility to safeguard the “dignity, safety, and wellbeing of every Minnesotan.”
The letter, sent to every Republican lawmaker Friday, said Trump’s statements calling Somali people living in Minnesota, including U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar, “garbage” endangers Minnesotans. Trump also stated that he did not want Somali people in the United States, including naturalized U.S. citizens and citizens by birth.
“These are not mere political attacks. They are dehumanizing slurs targeting an entire community of Minnesotans: our neighbors, coworkers, constituents, and friends,” the letter to GOP legislators said. “Every elected official has a duty to reject rhetoric that endangers our constituents. We ask—respectfully but urgently—that each of you publicly repudiate President Trump’s hateful and racist statements.”
The letter added: “Minnesota has already known—firsthand—the tragic consequences that can follow when people in positions of power use rhetoric that paints human beings as lesser, dangerous, or disposable. Our state continues to grieve the horrific loss of Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, and the attempted murders of Senator John Hoffman, his wife Yvette, and their daughter Hope—attacks perpetrated by an individual who had been incited and radicalized by the very kind of hatred and dehumanization we are witnessing again today.”
A copy of the letter to Republican legislators is attached.
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