Ex-Minneapolis Mayor On Cop Reform: 'White Liberals Block Change'

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — Former Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges, who served one term before losing her reelection bid in 2018, has weighed in on the debate surrounding police reform and systemic racism in the Twin Cities and elsewhere.

Much of Hodges' only term as mayor was dominated by police violence, including the 2015 killing of Jamar Clark and the 2017 killing of Justine Damond at the hands of Minneapolis officers.

In her opinion piece for the New York Times, Hodges blames "white liberals" for maintaining the status quo in Minneapolis and blocking "systemic changes our cities have needed for decades."

Before being elected mayor in 2014, Hodges was on the city council for eight years. Hodges says big progressive cities, especially Minneapolis, are home to the worst racial inequalities in the nation.

"Democrats have largely led big and midsize cities for much of the past half-century," Hodges wrote."Yet the gaps in socioeconomic outcomes between white people and people of color are by several measures at their worst in the richest, bluest cities of the United States."

Hodges calls on "white liberals like me" to find ways to make their actions match their beliefs.

Read the entire piece at the New York Times.