To the editor:
I want to express my deepest condolences to the family and colleagues of Minnesota
House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, who were recently
assassinated in their home.
My prayers are with Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, as they recover from
gunshot wounds sustained in an attempted assassination.
I’m thankful for the quick action of law enforcement that night, which likely saved other
lives, and for the swift apprehension of the suspect.
We’ve seen the political temperature rising for years. We’ve watched the angry speeches,
the threats, the venom spewed online. But somehow this still feels unthinkable.
How can you be shocked… and not shocked… at the same time, though?
From the President of the United States and the Governor of Minnesota, down to
anonymous keyboard commandos on social media, inflammatory language has become
not only common but increasingly accepted.
Incendiary words have gone unchecked. We ignore it. We scroll past it. Some even cheer it
on.
This was more than a tragedy. It was a warning about the cost of silence and the reality that
hate doesn’t disappear when ignored. It escalates.
When hate is fueled instead of extinguished, rhetoric escalates to violence, rooted in
hatred, that smolders across the political spectrum directed at anyone who dares to think
differently.
The victims of this attack are not to blame. They were targeted not for wrongdoing, but for
serving. The people who step forward to serve deserve to do so without fearing for their
lives or their families’ safety.
We all need the courage to say: enough. Decency is not a weakness, and courage is not
someone else’s job.
If we want a better kind of politics, we must demand it. Call out hate speech when we see it
and support leaders who unite rather than divide. That’s how we begin to heal and move
forward together.
Tony Jurgens