Performative, Huh?

A seventh grader who survived the Annunciation shooting wrote a letter to Minnesota lawmakers.

Sen. Erin Maye Quade read part of that letter on the Senate floor:

“As a school shooting survivor, I want it to be harder to get assault weapons. On August 27, over 100 rounds were fired into the Annunciation Church at my friends and me. It was terrifying. Please do something.”

Please do something.

That is what children and families asked of the Minnesota Senate.

And this week, Senate DFLers did.

They passed a gun violence prevention package that included more school safety resources, mental health support, and common-sense measures to help keep weapons of war out of our schools and communities.

Julia Coleman voted no.

Even worse, she called the vote “performative.”

Performative, huh?

After the Annunciation School shooting, Senator Coleman said, “our children — our most precious assets — must be protected.”

She said, “I’m praying for the victims and working to ensure our children can learn and grow without fear.”

But responding to children and families who survived a school shooting is not performative.

What is performative is offering heartfelt words after a tragedy, then voting no when it is time to act.

What is performative is saying children must be protected, then refusing to support a bill that included school safety resources, mental health support, and gun violence prevention.

What is performative is telling families you want children to “learn and grow without fear,” then dismissing action when survivors and families ask lawmakers to do something.

I believe Carver County deserves better.

As a psychologist, a father, and a public school parent, I understand that children’s fear is real. Parents’ fear is real. Trauma is real. And leadership means more than comforting words after the worst happens.

Leadership is being accountable to your constituents. Leadership means acting before the next tragedy.

Julia Coleman had a choice. She could listen to the children and families who asked lawmakers to do something.

Instead, she sided with Senate Republicans and voted no.

I’m running because Carver County deserves a senator who shows up, tells the truth, and takes action to protect Minnesota families.

We deserve safer schools. We deserve stronger mental health support. We deserve common-sense gun violence prevention.