My Response to the Assassination of Melissa Hortman

As a political philosopher and a Minnesotan

(Source: Piqsels)

I’ve returned home from my four-week trip to the US. I wrote five articles about my observations while in the country where I grew up: Preview. Part one. Part two. Part three. Part four. In the articles, I was quite critical of American culture, but I didn’t mention the American strain of gun violence. I should have.

I also didn’t mention that during the last part of my trip I was staying in Maple Grove, Minnesota, the suburb in which I grew up. That’s mentionable only because a few days later, Vance Boelter assassinated state legislator Melissa Hortman in her home in Brooklyn Park, MN, and attempted to assassinate state legislator John Hoffman in his home in Champlin, MN. The legislators’ spouses were also targeted. Evidence indicated that Boelter also attempted to attack at least two other state legislators in their homes.

I know Brooklyn Park and Champlin because they are adjacent to Maple Grove. Decades ago, the land was carved up into municipalities delineated by arbitrary straight lines, but in real-life terms, Maple Grove, Brooklyn Park, and Champlin are an extended community. When I was a kid, my parents and I shopped in Brooklyn Park and Champlin. My public library was in Brooklyn Park. The houses of the Hortman and Hoffman…