that's the kind of time we're i,
and it's terrifying and disgust.
Insurrection, death threats,
attacks like those that make big
headlines but on a local level,
everywhere from the school board to a
City Council delegate meeting find its
place in the land of short temp.
Case in point,
right here at home on Saturday,
when a DFL Ward convention
turned into a melee for reasons
that are still a bit unclear,
Gordon's here to talk about what happened.
And to take a look at that
bigger picture of why political
gatherings are too often on thee
of boiling over. Yeah.
DFL leaders say the goal of
this convention Saturday was to
come together to talk about the
candidates and endorse one of tm
for Minneapolis City Council.
But during the speech portion of
the convention, a fight broke ot
between some of the supporters.
Minneapolis police say one man
was rushed to the hospital by
ambulance for a medical conditi,
and a woman was treated as at
the scene for a minor injury.
It happened very quickly and
suddenly from all sides of the .
Longtime DFL volunteer Samuel Doughton
says the chaos Saturday was shocking.
The two candidates for Minneapos
City Council Ward Ten were set o
give speeches during the meetin.
He says Nazri Warsami drew the
choice to go first or second.
He chose second. So his opponen,
Aisha Chug Ty, took the stage. s
soon as we finished announcing t
Aisha was coming to the stage to speak,
a number of supporters of Nazri or Sami
started standing up, jeering and booing,
and then, Doughton says,
many of those volunteers went
up on the stage, and that's when
fighting and pushing broke out.
In a statement, Chug Ty says moe
than a dozen of her supporters
and volunteers were assaulted,
and that the meeting was
contentious from the very begin.
Marsami also addressed the
conflict in a statement,
apologizing for the actions
of some of his volunteers,
but also arguing that there were
barriers and misunderstandings
with the convention process.
The state DFL Party is still gathering
information to determine what happened.
The party's chairman,
Ken Martin,
is planning an emergency meeting
where he will propose banning
all individuals were involved in
the assaults from participating
in DFL party activities.
And I haven't
given up on democracy and this kind of
violence. It just has no place .
What we're seeing in American politics is
a lot of anger and a lot of negativity.
Indiana University professor Stn
Webster says violence and politics has
become a concerning trend in recent years.
He wrote the book American Rage,
How Anger Shapes Our Politics
three years ago, and he says the
trend has only gotten worse sin.
One thing that we know is that by and large,
Americans are motivated more in their
opposition to the parties they dislike
rather than the parties that they like.
And so this style of negative politics
or negative partisanship has rey
changed the American political landscape.
Webster says the candidates themselves
have played the biggest role in this,
with politicians using anger to.
To build their base.
Anger is a is a tool for politicians.
It aids their electoral pursuit.
And so our anger helps
politicians remain in office. Ad
these days, politicians have moe
ways to share this angry message
and more ways for their followeo
spread this angry message onlin.
That being said, I think it's er
than ever to become angry today. Right.
We have the 24/7 cable news cyc.
We have social media that can tl
us the things that we want to h.
And so I think it's easier to be
made angry today. Are you conced
about the 2024 presidential election?
I do think that 2024 has the
possibility to be an angry elec.
We're hoping to learn more about what
happened when the state party hs
that emergency meeting on Thurs.
The party also has to decide wht
they're going to do about the election.
With the fight breaking out,
they never really got a chance
to make their endorsement
for Ward 10. Lots of questions still to
get answers to last semester. Clean up.
We appreciate it. Thanks, Gordo.