Minneapolis ICE murder scene /Photo by Ryan Janke, KFGO News
There are two names all of America knows that they didn’t at the beginning of this month. The first is Renee Good. Renee was a mother of three that, along with her wife, was out protesting against the treatment of their fellow Minnesotans. They saw first-hand how ICE was treating human beings, so they tried to block a road to make it a little tougher.
When ICE approached her and demanded she get out of her car, she tried to drive away. She turned her wheels far to the right away from the ICE agents, and took off. They shot her because of it. ICE agents hit her in the head a number of times and killed her. They didn’t allow medical professionals to approach and the officer that killed her even fled the scene right away.
Another name we’ll all remember is Alex Pretti. Alex was another protestor shot and killed by ICE. He was a registered nurse working at the VA, and was known for his compassion and drive to help others. Alex brought a lot of passion to his demonstration, but certainly nothing that would warrant his murder. Alex was also shot multiple times by ICE agents.
Alex’s murder was the one that really caused Donald Trump some trouble. See, Renee Good’s murder was easy to spin for them. All they had to do was claim she was trying to run over the officer that shot and fled. They can say, and they did, that she needed to be killed for the safety of the officer. Then have the Vice President claim there’s no need for an investigation and give complete immunity to the agent.
It’s harder to do this for the Pretti shooting. The image was even tougher to explain away. They needed a label or something they could get ahead with. Their ace in the hole was the fact he had a handgun on him. Never mind the fact he had it legally and never pulled it on the agents. In fact, they had already taken it from him by the time they shot and killed him. It was time to bring out a new label and brand. It was time for Alex to be called a domestic terrorist.
The problem is that America knows he wasn’t. The NRA and many others pointed out the hypocrisy of the Trump Administration when it came to guns. They didn’t do any research on his life helping veterans before labeling him, despite seeing what America saw in the videos. He was a man helping a woman shoved to the ground by ICE. Then he was grabbed by multiple agents and was shot for it.
Will it change anything? No, it won’t. The reactions might be more thought-through. The ICE clothes will look less like Nazi Germany, but it won’t change a damn thing. The quota will still be there. The disregard for people of color will still be there. And worst of all, the people making those decisions will still be there.
But what the heck, we all voted for this, right?
Good riding with you,
Joel
Comments