It’s Happened Again!

 It has happened again!  My government has killed another innocent bystander. 

Yes, I know.  Everyone has heard about the slaughter.  Still … it must be said again.  And again.  And again.  And again!

In Minneapolis, government agents, who, earlier this month, shot Renee Good, a mom returning from dropping her six-year-old off at school—"I’m not mad at you, dude”—have now killed Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse at the VA.  He had a phone in one hand, recording what those agents were doing on a public street, and the other hand was empty.  Except for reaching down to offer assistance to a woman whom the agents had shoved to the ground.

Border patrol sprayed Alex Pretti in the face with a chemical irritant, pushed him down, and beat him.  Then, after they had taken the gun they found tucked in his waistband, a gun he carried legally but had not touched or even reached for, took it and walked away with it, they shot him.  Ten times.

(I have strong opinions about guns, reinforced by having been accosted at gunpoint several years ago on a quiet residential street in Minneapolis in the late morning.  But that’s a discussion for another time.)

Officials from my government have called Alex Pretti and Renee Good “domestic terrorists” and Pretti an “assassin” who “tried to murder federal agents.”  The neighbors who flocked to both scenes were, of course, “paid agitators.”

I was an adult during the 1960’s, so I know what it’s like to be lied to by my government.  And I know what violence is like, too.  John F. Kennedy; Martin Luther King, Jr.; Robert Kennedy, Jr.  Not to mention the Korean “Conflict” (never approved by Congress), the Vietnam War (in Vietnam they call it the American War), the Gulf War (shock and awe and disgrace).  And then, of course, I listened to the McCarthy hearings in the 1950’s.  So I understand that my government, Democratic or Republican, has not always been honorable, open, honest. 

But I have never been as disheartened about the American experiment as I am today.  How can I comprehend the disrespect and violence perpetuated on my neighbors, not just in Minnesota, but all over this land?

Homes being broken into without a warrant.  People being accosted on the street for the crime of not being white.  Those obeying every legal process toward citizenship, whisked away.  Even young children taken. 

Who among us is for such measures?

Very, very few.  We must all remember that. 

We are a polarized country, divided between those who voted for this administration, believing a change would, somehow, make a difference in their lives, and those who voted for someone else. (The majority of the country, by the way, voted for someone else. Remember that Trump and Harris weren’t the only ones on the ballot.) But we can, even now, reach across that chasm. Because that’s what we are left with in all this chaos.  The chasm and one another. 

Our work must begin. 

We, the people, must stop focusing on our differences; stop standing on opposite sides of the political chasm, pointing fingers, making accusations, hating.  We must find our way back to the America we honor and love.  Together.  Find our way back to our own good lives.

What does that mean?  Making our voices heard.  Speaking out.  If enough of us let Congress know that their jobs are on the line if this cruelty isn’t stopped, the administration’s power trip would be upended.  So much about this administration could be ended.

I call myself a progressive, and I vote that way, but there is much in our system I want to conserve, so I am a conservative, too.  And what I want, more than anything, is a government that serves all of us as effectively as it can, every color, every creed, every honorable conviction.  Not the powerful.  Not the billionaires.  Not the corporations.  Just us little people muddling along with our little lives. 

Democracy has always been imperfect, always will be, but as Winston Churchill is presumed to have said, it’s “the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”  And getting back to democracy starts with getting back to us.  It starts with acknowledging one another, accepting one another, honoring one another.  With recognizing the humanity, not only of the immigrants under siege, but the humanity of those who think differently than we do, vote differently than we do.  After all, we can’t ask our government to care only for some of us, those who are on the “right” side. 

And while we’re fighting our way back to the good, if messy, place this country has always been, let’s call out their names, loud and clear. 

Renee Good.

Alex Pretti.

Renee Good.

Alex Pretti.

Renee Good!

Alex Pretti!