Memorial Day 2026 should have centered on flags at graves and the quiet dignity of remembering Americans who died in uniform. It didn’t. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Governor Tim Walz turned the day into another lap of the George Floyd perpetual remembrance tour. While families visited Arlington and small-town cemeteries, Frey posted a Floyd tribute on X before his office had offered a single word about the fallen. Walz, meanwhile, skipped a scheduled appearance at Fort Snelling National Cemetery — where veterans waited for a governor who never arrived — to attend the Rise and Remember festival at George Floyd Square, where he was photographed dancing and reportedly joked, “not bad for an old white guy.”
As the brother of a retired Green Beret Weapons Sergeant who spent more than two decades in Special Forces, and the father of a West Point graduate who wears Army wings, I find this not just tone-deaf but genuinely offensive. I completed Marine Corps Officer Candidate School myself. We understand what a uniform means because we’ve worn one.
Memorial Day began as Decoration Day after the Civil War. Communities placed flowers on the graves of the fallen. It grew into a national holiday honoring all who died in uniform. The National Moment of Remembrance calls for silence at 3 p.m. local time. The day was built for reflection on sacrifice — nothing else. It was never designed for partisan theater or elevating a man with a documented history of violence.
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