Chaos erupts at Minneapolis council meeting during debate over global politics

The Minneapolis City Council devolved into chaos Thursday during a debate over whether it should spend time weighing in on global politics, like the U.S. blockade of Cuba.

The meeting went off the rails as the council considered two resolutions that would urge normalization of relations with Cuba and ask European financial institutions to stop investing in companies that contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

While all council members are left of center, the debates between progressive and more moderate factions are as spirited as those between Republicans and Democrats. The November election shifted the balance of power slightly, with progressives still in the majority but with only a one-seat majority. The slim margin makes it more difficult to override vetoes by Mayor Jacob Frey, who is more moderate.

That new dynamic, along with four newly elected council members, has led to several loud and sometimes bizarre clashes during public meetings, with certain council members frequently beefing with each other on the dais.

The latest verbal melee broke out as Council Member Aurin Chowdhury was speaking in favor of a resolution supporting a delegation of Minneapolis residents who are going to Europe to urge financial institutions to divest from all major contractors that work for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The resolution pitted Chowdhury and her progressive allies against more moderate members.

Chowdhury said it was “extremely disappointing” to hear her colleagues laughing and making “snide remarks” as she spoke in favor of the resolution.

Then Vetaw chastised Council President Elliott Payne, saying he needs to learn how to run a meeting and treat council members equally instead of giving his “friends” preferential treatment.

“I’ve certainly heard Council Member [Robin] Wonsley today make snarky comments and noises at people when she didn’t like how people voted, and the same thing is going on with Chowdhury’s tantrum she’s having up here because we’re not voting like she wants us to,” Vetaw said. “We get to vote the way that we want to ... if she wants to have a tantrum because we’re not giving her a unanimous vote, that’s her problem.”

Payne said he was trying to stop council members from talking over each other during the meeting, and accused Vetaw of ascribing motive, which goes against their rules of decorum.

“All I was doing was trying to give Shaffer the floor,” Payne said.

Chowdhury responded that people can vote how they want, but “I’m not going to sit here and pretend it’s not hurtful when I’m talking and people are laughing and making remarks ... it happens constantly — when I’m chairing a meeting and someone calls me a ‘fucking child.’”

Council members began bickering and talking over each other until the president called a five-minute recess.

After most council members left the meeting room, some people in the audience loudly lectured the more moderate Democrats still sitting at the dais, pressing them to say why they oppose the resolutions and chiding them for not being out in the streets as much as more progressive council members during Operation Metro Surge.

After a few minutes, Chowdhury strode back in the room, frowning and refusing to look in Vetaw’s direction.

When the meeting resumed, Payne asked everyone to follow the rules, saying he’d been playing a little “fast and loose” with them but would use the gavel more if needed.

Council Member Pearll Warren later gave a tongue-lashing to activists in the audience, saying as a Black woman she has been marginalized her whole life by white institutions. What activists are doing in Europe is good, she said, but “I still have to fight institutionalized racism in my community and in my home here in the state of Minnesota on a day-to-day basis.”

She asked why protesters don’t show up in north Minneapolis when “Black babies are being slaughtered on the streets.”

“The fight that I fight every day to be a Black woman here in America is not anything that you could ever fathom. You don’t understand where I stand, cause you’ve never sat where I’ve sat. Thank you for being woke. I appreciate it. Now do something with your awakenness,” she said.

Payne was more strict about decorum for the rest of the meeting, but after the council voted to send a proposal for a public safety training center back to staff for more work, activists in the meeting room started chanting “Stop Cop City” and “Cop City will never be built!” and unfurled a large sign that read “Stop Cop City,” prompting Payne to recess the meeting again.

During that recess, council members and activists traded barbs over the vote.