Ruled false: Rep. Steve Green's Minneapolis remarks hit big time with his own Snopes entry

After years of other misinformation about the cause of Chronic Wasting Disease and the presence of feral swine in Minnesota, Fosston Republican state representative Steve Green has finally hit the big time, with his remarks about Muslim policing in Minneapolis earning him a "False" rating at Snopes in No, Antifa and Muslim Groups Aren’t Policing Minneapolis Under ‘Muslim Rule.'

On June 21, Bluestem Prairie was first to publish a notice the Park Rapids Enterprise story in our post, Green and Grossell conduct dystopian fantasy workshop for Hubbard County Commissioners. The Minnesota Reformer soon posted a story (probably filed before our post appeared), and City Pages also noticed the remarks in a later article.

As did a noted anti-Muslim figure, as we wrote in Career anti-Muslim figure Robert Spencer defends Steve Green against the MN Reformer.

It's Spencer's article at FrontPage magazine that Snopes' Bethania Palma responds in No, Antifa and Muslim Groups Aren’t Policing Minneapolis Under ‘Muslim Rule':

The claim appears to have originated with a state representative who does not live in Minneapolis.

Claim

Antifa and Muslim organizations in summer of 2020 were planning to police the streets of Minneapolis under Muslim rule.

X False.

In late June 2020, social media users shared an article written by anti-Muslim propagandist Robert Spencer in which he claimed — without evidence — that “Antifa and Muslim organizations plan to ‘police Minneapolis under Muslim rule.'”

Spencer’s article, which was published to the far-right website FrontPageMag, was sourced from a quote by State Rep. Steve Green, a Republican who represents a district in northwest Minnesota.

Green made the comment among many other grievances he aired during a meeting with the Hubbard County Board of Commissioners on June 16, 2020. The remark was initially documented in a Park Rapids Enterprise post written by another politician, State Rep. Matt Grossell, a Republican representative for a district in northwest Minnesota who was also present at the meeting.

Note: the byline has been changed online at the Parks Enterprise to Shannon M Geisen. Snopes continues:

Grossell’s post reads like a partial transcript of the two men’s remarks at the meeting, and contains no corroborating evidence or reporting to support Green’s claims. At one point Green indicates that in his “humble opinion,” they’re seeing “communism moving into Minneapolis and St. Paul.” Despite a lack of evidence to support it, Green’s sensational quote was picked up by a number of websites.

We reached out to Green by email to ask where he got this information and whether he had any evidence for his claims, but got no reply.

We also reached out to Minneapolis Police Sgt. John Elder, who confirmed that while the City Council did state its intent to “reimagine” policing, the Minneapolis Police Department is still operating. “We absolutely are here and will not abandon our communities!” Elder stated in an email.

Not only is there no apparent evidence for Green’s claim that antifa and Muslim groups are policing Minneapolis, but the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, has called on GOP leaders to repudiate Green’s statement, calling it hate-filled. . . .

Because there’s no evidence for Green’s comments and because the Minneapolis Police Department continues to patrol the city and respond to emergencies as city leaders hash out the future for public safety, we rate this claim “False.”

As far as Steve Green being prophetic about anything, as Spencer claims, we can only think of his concern about problem bears documented in The unbearable lightness of Steve Green's sourcing for problem wildlife removal or the classic Green bill to promote hunting feral swine in Minnesota we covered in Too cute: if only Steve Green could have come up with a real defense against feral swine. Hint: no feral swine in Minnesota at the time and the "solution" was thought to be ineffective by wildlife management experts.

Related posts:

• Only Steve Green gets the blues: Hubbard County's list of 2020 polling locations includes bunches of mail ballot townships
• LTE: U of M Regents professor kindly explains why Rep. Steve Green is confused about CWD
• The unbearable lightness of Steve Green's sourcing for problem wildlife removal
• MN LWV president chides Rep. Steve Green for disregarding transgender student safety
• Nitrogen amnesia strikes state representative Steve Green during LWV Park Rapids Area forum
• In town hall & letters sections, constituents sass back to state rep Steve Green about lots of stuff
• MN 2B: Steve Green totally doesn't believe any science supports human role in climate change

Screengrab: The Park Rapids Enterprise's article --by Matt Grossell, no less. Who knew the Clearbrook Republican moonlighted as a reporter for a local Forum Communications newspaper? Update: the byline has been changed online at the Parks Enterprise to Shannon M Geisen.

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