Like many other GOP state chapters, the Minnesota Republican Party has been unabashed about flaunting its extremism in recent years.

One of the clearest examples of this has been in the party’s promotion of far-right figures like Royce White, who rode the Minnesota GOP’s endorsement in his 2024 Senate race to a shellacking in the general election.

But even so, a moment of silence the party held for Derek Chauvin over the weekend — that is, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd — underscores a uniquely sadistic strain of racial bigotry within the state Republican Party.

Last week marked six years since Floyd’s murder by Chauvin, who placed his knee on Floyd’s neck for several minutes. The killing spurred widespread protests for racial justice and against police brutality across the country.

On Saturday at their state convention, Minnesota Republicans held a moment of silence for Floyd’s murderer at the request of a state lawmaker, according to the Minnesota Reformer. Per the outlet:

The convention day began at 9 a.m. with a prayer from Father Richard Kunst of Duluth that the adopted platform of the party “promotes true, good, conservative values, fiscally and socially,” followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

A delegate then called for a moment of silence for Derek Chauvin, who was convicted of murdering George Floyd in 2020 and is in prison. State Rep. Danny Nadeau, R-Rogers, led a 10-second moment of silence after taking an informal vote.

Nothing speaks to the state of today’s Republican Party quite like following up a prayer designed to tout “conservative values” by honoring a killer whose name, to many, has become synonymous with racist homicide and police brutality.

Ja’han Jones

Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.