Minneapolis mayor denies flashing gang sign in viral photo

The mayor of Minneapolis isn’t flashing a gang sign in a photo quickly gaining traction online, but rather pointing at a man helping in a voting campaign, her spokeswoman and community groups said, in response to allegations made in a television report and by a police union. A report aired Thursday night quoting the head of the Minneapolis police union saying that the Nov. 1 photo of Mayor Betsy Hodges and a community activist, who are pointing a finger at each other with their thumbs raised, shows the pair flashing a known gang sign. The report was swiftly criticized on social media, with hundreds of tweets ridiculing the report or calling it racist. Many show photos of U.S. presidents, Pope Francis and even Cookie Monster using similar hand gestures, under the hashtag #Pointergate.

She’s been around long enough. When you have the mayor of a major city, with a known criminal, throwing up gang signs, that’s terrible.

Minneapolis Police Federation President John Delmonico

Hodges’ spokeswoman, Kate Brickman, told The Associated Press on Friday that the photo merely shows the mayor and Navell Gordon, an employee of Neighborhoods Organizing for Change, “pointing at each other” while knocking on doors to get out the vote in north Minneapolis. She said the mayor has many photos on her Facebook page showing her making the same gesture with others. VJ Smith, the national president of MADDADS, a group working to curb inner-city violence, said the gesture wasn’t gang-related. Smith said the mayor was working hard to connect with young people and empower youth.

It would be ridiculous for a mayor to put up a gang sign. That’s not what she wants to do. It wouldn’t make sense for a mayor to do that and everybody knows that.

VJ Smith, the national president of MADDADS

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