Duluth's Schultz calls out House colleague's use of 'lynching'

Democratic Rep. Jen Schultz of Duluth condemned her state House colleague late Friday, after Rep. Steve Drazkowski's floor speech called the toppling of the capitol's Christopher Columbus statue a "lynching-like desecration of a public work of art."

"I am upset he used that word," Schultz said. "I'm upset that the Republicans seem to care more about statues than criminal justice reforms where black people's lives are at stake."

For Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, the timing was as much in question as his use of word. Schultz noted the 100th anniversary of the lynchings of Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson and Isaac McGhie on Monday in Duluth, and the historic and posthumous pardon earlier Friday of Max Mason , the circus worker accused of raping Irene Tusken in a case tied to the lynchings in Duluth.

Drazkowski earned rebukes on the House floor and on Twitter. His opponent in the upcoming election wrote, "My name is Elise Diesslin and I won’t use the term ‘lynching’ to describe a dethroned statue."

"I don't think that was a lynching bringing down the statue ," Schultz, representing District 7A in eastern Duluth, said. "I think Drazkowski has to read different history books."

Drazkowski's comment also came on a day the House observed 8 minutes, 46 seconds of silence in memory of George Floyd, who died earlier this month after Minneapolis police officers kneeled on his neck for almost 9 minutes.

According to the NAACP, lynchings were "a popular way of resolving some of the anger that whites had in relation to the free blacks."

From 1882 to 1968, 4,743 lynchings occurred in the United States — of them 3,446 were black, including the Duluth victims.

At the time of this report, Drazkowski had not yet responded to a News Tribune inquiry for comment, and had also not tweeted further in response to the stir created by his comments.