People are not garbage. That is the main thing we need to say. It should not need saying, but this term and similar ones are being used by prominent voices, even seeming to refer to a whole group of our Minnesota neighbors. We worry about how language like this signals what is and is not acceptable in our society.

It is hard to know what to do about what others say. What we can all do is to be clear about what is acceptable to us, and what we will and won’t say or do.