A Minnesota television station was met with widespread outrage and ridicule on Friday after it aired a segment claiming Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges had recently flashed a “gang sign” while standing next to a convicted felon.
What the report left out: the photograph was taken during an event put on by the Twin Cities charity Neighborhoods Organizing for Change (NOC), and the young man, identified in the news segment simply as a “criminal,” was a volunteer.
As for the “gang sign”—it appears to be no more than the mayor and the volunteer pointing at each other in one of many poses for a photo op.
But television station KSTP left no room for ambiguity in its report on Thursday night. The station spoke exclusively with current and former police officers who insisted the mayor was “flashing gang signs” and left out all details of the charity. On its website, the segment’s headline read: “Mpls. Mayor Flashes Gang Sign with Convicted Felon; Law Enforcement Outraged.”
However, the charity’s own video revealed footage of the young man, Navell Gordon, walking with Hodges, a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, and explaining his current participation in community organization and civic outreach.
“I’ve made some mistakes in life, you know, I can’t vote, I’m not ashamed to say that,” the young man said. “But I’m working on that, now.”
The video, posted to YouTube on Thursday, also showed the moment Gordon and the mayor pointed at each other following a series of gestures both made while posing for photos.
November 11, 2014 7:20 AM
