The Assault on Minneapolis’ First Woman of Color City Council Member

Earlier this month, a weekly Minnesota newsmagazine wrote a highly controversial political hit piece against Minneapolis city councilwoman Alondra Cano. Cano is, notably, the first Latina and Mexican-American member of the Minneapolis city council.

The piece, in which Cano’s fellow council members are cited as ‘anonymous’ sources, attempts to paint a picture of Cano as incompetent and unintelligent. Crude words like ‘lazy’ and ‘clueless’ are used to describe her work ethic.

Such coded racial language, however, is not uncommon in our societal discourse and has historically been used to portray women of color in particular as incapable of public service and leadership. Being the sole woman of color on the Minneapolis city council, Cano has frequently spoken out against the powers that be and taken politically controversial positions despite the personal consequences to her.

Responses to the smear piece were quick and dismissive. Many immediately noted that Alondra had not missed a single meeting, while others reached out to all the other city council members directly to inquire as to whether they had been the quoted anonymous source for the piece. After none admitted to being the source, in a tireless social media campaign initiated by Cano’s supporters (see: #ImWithAlo), well-respected Minnesota news outlets began to pick up on the backlash and forced the City Pages to ultimately admit that it had been discredited and essentially shot itself in the foot for publishing a lazy, reckless attempt at character assassination.

No one said being the first woman of color on a city council representing a major metropolitan area would be easy; but, what has become clear from all this is that propagating racist and sexist stereotypes of the few women of color in elected office is a clear failure of Journalism 101.

You can donate to councilwoman Alondra Cano’s re-election campaign here.