Minnesota GOP member fired after 'negro problem' tweet

Republicans are apologizing after a controversial tweet was sent out from the Minnesota GOP’s 7th Congressional District’s account on Sunday. Many say the tweet is racist, and it's prompted outrage across social media.

Representatives aren't releasing who wrote the tweet. But whoever it is isn’t working for the Republican Party any longer.

The tweet read: "The Minnesota DFL now proposes a special session to deal with their self-created negro problem."

The tweet was taken down, but not before the DFL chairman released a statement calling the post racist and bigoted --  "The GOP is clearly out of touch on issues of race here in Minnesota and around the country,” he said.

The tweet borrowed the term “negro problem” from a blog post it linked, which discussed Governor Dayton's call for a special session on race relations in the state as protesters continue to demand justice for a young black man killed by Minneapolis police.

“There's accusations back and forth and to throw 'negro problem' into the mix is explosive,” professor Larry Jacobs, Political Studies at the University of Minnesota, said.

Jacobs said although the word choice in the tweet was alarming, the current political climate welcomes discussion about race relations -- something that hasn't occurred since the 1960’s.

“Donald Trump’s campaign particularly, some of the strong statements he's made about immigrants has brought race in, and now Minneapolis."

Jacobs also addresses the essential yet dangerous role of social media in politics today.

“My suspicion here is that the Republican Party had a young intern who wasn't being well supervised who thought it would be a neat idea to send an incendiary tweet out there and it was not what the Republican Party wanted,” Jacobs said.

The Republican Party of Minnesota said the person in charge of the tweet has been relieved of their duties, and the twitter account has been put on hold.