A photo of the Minneapolis Mayor flashing "gang signs" with a convicted felon has circulated the Internet shortly after the mayor publicly led a chant against the use of the name "Redskins" on Sunday.
The photo in question shows the mayor posing with a twice-convicted drug-felon for drug-selling possession and illegal posssession of a firearm during a get-out-the-vote event.
A spokesperson for the non-profit that sponsored the get-out-the-vote event said that the mayor is merely "pointing" in the photo, but one Minneapolis police officer says that the pointing is a sign of something more:
"She is legitimizing these people. She is legitimizing gangs who are killing our children in Minneapolis and I just can't believe it. It hurts."
While the mayor decided to support a gesture with a negative connotation in this photo, the mayor seemed to have no problem publicly denouncing the Redskins name.
At the Sunday protest, Mayor Betsy Hodges decided to lead a crowd of protesters in chanting "Change the Name" on the steps of University of Minnesota's Northrop Plaza, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Hodges said to the protesters:
"I have a message to the Washington team: The clock is ticking on your name...it is more than an insult. It is hate."