If We Accept This, We Will Accept Anything
On what this moment requires
ICE murdered a man this morning in broad daylight. Alex Pretti, 37, a registered nurse, was filming ICE actions in Minneapolis just a day after a historic protest and general strike, and was accosted by agents for filming, thrown to the ground, held down, and then executed by an agent unloading his full clip into this observer. Alex had committed no crime; he had done nothing to provoke the agents; he was simply trying to ensure accountability to the lawless thugs who had occupied one of our great cities. For this, he was shot 10 times.
Content Warning: video of the execution by ICE of Alex Pretti:
There comes a moment in the history of any country where the people are compelled to decide what they will accept. This is our moment. This is now the second execution of a regular, decent human being for no reason in the city of Minneapolis in recent weeks. The administration has naturally rushed out lies and defenses of this murder once again. It is fair to say that at this point, the concept of due process, of laws, and of a binding constitution no longer applies to citizens (or anyone) within our borders.
One could say that was the case for many segments of America for a long, long time, and I will not dispute that, but we are now at the precipice. We are at the point where each of us will have to decide which side we are on, which way we will go, and what the future for ourselves, our children, and our children’s children will look like. The American government has countenanced summary execution by the state of anyone, citizen or noncitizen, for any act that an untrained Gestapo agent deems a problem. The United States government has declared war on us, and our only decision now is how to respond, or if we just continue to accept the fact that it may be us who gets shot in the face next for doing nothing at all.
The options before us are clear: either we quickly develop the capacity for a nationwide shutdown, or we enter a hot war in every major city. There is no third option.
For those who cling to the hope that we just primary our way to a better future, I implore you to wake up to our current reality. We will not even make it to the next election at this rate, and somehow Democrats always seem to muster up the exact number of votes the Republicans need to continue their terror. We are all we have. All we have is each other. We must start to build the communities we can rely on and stop waiting for those who have never met the moment to save us. We have to really, clearly see what is before us and the hellscape we are being shoved into, and understand that it is only we who can get us out.
Minneapolis demonstrated to us yesterday that people power means something. They performed a strike, and tens of thousands of people poured into the streets in subzero weather to stand up and fight. They have coordinated networks in order to feed each other and keep each other safe from ICE raids. They are showing us in real time what solidarity looks like. We can do this everywhere, but we need to have faith in each other and seriously understand that no one is coming to save us. We must, we must, save ourselves. And we can. I believe we can. I believe that there are millions and millions of Renee Goods and Alex Prettis in this country and I believe that we are stronger, and braver, and more steadfast than any of these low rent nazis. I believe in the people, I believe in you, and I believe we can win. We only need to decide.
Some resources to get plugged in:
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Well said, my friend. It’s time. Nobody is coming to save us.
The constitution is nothing but a list of reasons why police get to execute people. Don’t like what they protest, kill them and go home. Legally carry a firearm, and these cowards will execute you.
And Democrats like Tim Walz will just keep writing “strongly worded letters” while bodies pile up.
Qualified immunity has to end. No compromise, full stop abolishment for these sociopaths.