‘If this stemmed from a complaint, I might have a different perspective…’
(Joshua Paladino, Liberty Headlines) Following the racial tensions that have ravaged Minnesota‘s Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, politically correct mob justice is now heading to the Gopher State’s picturesque north country.
But for now, at least, it seems common-sense has prevailed.
The Duluth City Council voted to table the mayor’s proposal to strike the word “chief” from the name of the city’s chief administrative officer, the Star Tribune reported.
Mayor Emily Larson asked the city council to consider changing the city’s ordinance due to concerns that the word offends Native Americans.
Larson said she offered the measure “so that we have more inclusive leadership and less language that is rooted in hurt and offensive, intentional marginalization.”
Council members said concerned citizens who live in Duluth or elsewhere sent them emails about the word’s Latin origin and historical use for corporate and military leaders.
“I feel like chief has been an honorable title for many, many years. And it does not even stem from the indigenous community,” council member Derek Medved said Monday.
Medved said that he calls himself the chief executive of a gas station and convenience store that he owns.
“If this stemmed from a complaint, I might have a different perspective,” he said.
If the mayor’s proposal had passed, Chief Administrative Officer Noah Schuchman’s title would have been changed to “city administrator.”
To change the position’s title, the city council would have had to vote unanimously in favor of amending the city’s charter.
Larson said she is considering an additional proposal to eliminate the word “chief” from the titles of Duluth’s heads of police and fire.
“Never will I ever vote for that,” Medved said. “In the next 3.5 years, it will never happen while I’m on the council.”
Council member Renee Van Nett, a Native-American woman, said she disagrees with the city council’s decision to table a vote on the amendment, MPR News reported.
“It doesn’t affect you all like it affects me,” she said to the other council members. “When someone calls me ‘chief,’—that is bad, you guys. And that happens,” she said.