Journal of a Black Teacher

Editorial note: This opinion addresses disparities in public attention and institutional response. It does not suggest that nobody has worked to prevent urban gun violence or that Eden Prairie's response was inappropriate. The two victims in the October 2 shooting were young men from St. Paul, and neither attended the schools participating in the football game. The police investigation remains ongoing. By Group-think Logiz (Community Post)  October 6, 2026 Well, well, well. Apparently, Minnesota has discovered gun violence. How remarkable. How inspiring. How wonderfully convenient that this discovery occurred in Eden Prairie, where a high school homecoming football game was interrupted by gunfire, sending spectators scrambling for safety and reminding suburban Minnesota that bullets do not recognize property values, school district boundaries, or the carefully maintained illusion that serious violence happens somewhere else. On Friday, October 2, 2026, two young men, ages 17 and 1...

By Don Allen - Journal of A Black Teacher  I write as a Black American who has attended too many funerals. Too many mothers are fainting in church pews. Too many kids are learning the cadence of gunfire as a lullaby. And the real truth is this: it is or might very well be about guns, but it is most definitely about the individuals who use them and choose to kill. Let’s be clear, guns are everywhere in this country. Easy to buy, easy to hide, easy to pull out in anger.  The United States has more guns than people. If access were the only problem, then mass shootings in white suburbs and rural areas would look like the everyday reality of Black neighborhoods. But they don’t. We know who dies in disproportionate numbers: young Black men, women, and children who never got a chance to grow up. That’s not a statistic, it’s an obituary waiting to be written. But where is the national outrage? Where are the same government officials who wail for gun bans after a shooting in Minneapoli...