The massacre at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis has become a tragedy not just of violence but of language politics — and nowhere was that clearer than on NPR this week.
Hours after the shooting that left two children dead and 17 others injured, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) appeared on All Things Considered with host Ailsa Chang. Klobuchar, recounting the horror of a gunman blasting through stained glass as children hid beneath pews, referred to the shooter plainly as “he.” She even called him a “madman.”
That should have been the end of it. But when the interview wrapped, Chang jumped in with a correction of sorts:
“And just a point of clarification, Sen. Klobuchar referenced the shooter as ‘he.’ Although police have identified a suspect, it’s still unclear at this time what that person’s gender is or how they identify.”
The problem? It wasn’t “unclear” at all. Police had already identified the shooter as 23-year-old Robin Westman — born Robert Westman — a biological male who legally changed names in 2019 after a court filing by his mother stated that he “identifies as female.” FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed the same point bluntly on X:
“The shooter has been identified as Robin Westman, a male born as Robert Westman.”
In other words: there was no ambiguity.
But NPR has boxed itself in. Back in 2021, the outlet published a gender identity terms guide declaring that the “proper use of pronouns is a crucial way to signal courtesy and acceptance.” That ideological rulebook has now collided with hard facts — a transgender-identifying shooter carrying out an anti-Catholic massacre.
Rather than risk violating their own style guide, NPR scrambled to cast doubt where none existed. A U.S. senator called the killer “he.” Law enforcement confirmed the killer was male. The FBI said so outright. Yet NPR could not resist reminding listeners that “identity” might trump reality.
