From My Desk Jan. 14

1-14-26

By Lauren Royce, Editor

I would like to check in with you all. I am thinking about that woman who was recently killed by an ICE agent. That word, “agent,” makes him sound like some spy character, some figure with a gray moral compass. But there is nothing gray about killing a woman for— what? It unfolded in a blink. Gunshots to the face next to her wife. A nearby doctor wanted to help and was prevented from doing so.
This is my first time attempting some intelligent commentary on a current event that also comes across as fair and balanced. Bear with me. I am thinking about the blood that soaked the car seat and the stuffed animals peeking from the glove compartment. I write what I see in this line of work, and last Wednesday, I saw a killing all over social media.
I want to ask something. When are we allowed to come together and collectively label something as “enough?” And when is the last time that happened? Was it 9/11? I meet kindness whenever I’m out and about in Montrose. I know you all are capable of unity and have a strong sense of a local identity you’re proud of. So does Minneapolis, it seems. I want to hear from you all. Is this much killing to continue? Can we stop it?
There’s something important that sticks out in my mind from high school. One day in junior year I asked my social studies teacher why we kept learning the same stuff over and over again in history, save for freshman and sophomore year’s more globalized classes. He said, “Because the state thinks you’ll forget.” It was then I learned that the whole gig was more about testing than consuming more knowledge about a wide array of things in the world. It replays in my head every time another killing happens. History really will repeat itself in real life if we keep missing the lesson. With the 250th birthday of the nation approaching, will there be some kind of revision? Sequels and threequels to the Boston Massacre and other revolutionary era events? There have been so many moments where we say, this surely is a turning point in our timeline. But I think we’ve turned so many times we’ve made a circle. And the rut continues to deepen.