Again, something has gone terribly wrong. I’m not talking about just in Minneapolis by one agency in one moment. I’m talking about something has gone terribly wrong INSIDE US. We can’t pretend this is the norm. There’s nothing normal about this. This man is DEAD. A human being! He had a history, a family. He woke up that morning expecting his life to continue and now it’s gone! He wasn’t guilty, but those ICE agents are. No court asked for his death, but those courts should deliver justice for it. These ICE agents…their fear gives them permission to pull the trigger. The US Government just wants us to move on from this. Guys, listen… this really isn’t normal. This isn’t acceptable. This isn’t healthy for our society and it can’t just be shrugged off. The state is killing you and it’s escalating. They’re terrified of you and they’ve violated something sacred - your lives! Even if they don’t murder *you,* their impacts on others still violates you in your bodies? In your chests? In your silence tonight? Do you not see how the damage has already spread further than we want to admit? It’s not just about one death but what we’re becoming, and what we’re willing to justify. Authorities are replacing their conscience, their procedures are replacing their presence with the people, and they’re reducing us to “threats” before we’re recognised as lives. This culture allows force to move faster than their understanding, and their bullets arrive before they listen to us. 

We really do need to ask ourselves… why is our fear outranking our humanity? Why is efficiency mattering more than mercy? Why do uniforms and badges outrunning the moral responsibilities of those that wear it? We really need to understand that NO POLICY, NONE, is worth the cost of a human life taken in error or panic. I don’t give a flying fuck what orders these ICE agents have been given. It does not absolve their conscience. Let them show off their badges. Their badges never carry the weight of your soul! They mean fuck all! No system gets to plead their innocence when it trains people to act without seeing. ICE will never be able to defend their dishonour upon the people. They’ll never be able to explain their way out of the karma they’ll one day reap. They’ll never get to justify any harm they’ve caused! They’re all liars! They try to comfort their abominations upon us with their lies! 

I know it’s hard, but we must feel the weight of what was lost without reaching for excuses. We have to sit with our grief without converting it into just words. Admit our fears have been allowed to govern power. This power is governed by fear! Fear kills! This society can no longer protect our lives. It’s too unstable. You live in a nation that  normalises lethal force as a default. Believe me, there’s no strength in this. Your nation is terrified. If you don’t mourn this then you’re complicit in forgetting. This death should trouble you. It needs to unsettle you. Let it interrupt your dinner conversations and keep you awake in the night. Let your conscience not be an inconvenience to you. Please don’t lose your ability to be shaken by this. If you allow yourself to lose your ability to be shaken by this, then you’ve lost your humanity. Morals are being crossed. Are we going to still act like human lives don’t matter and systems do? You gonna keep favouring optics over lives? It’s not even about what’s right…

What happened can’t be undone now. But you can refuse to let it harden you. You can refuse to let it be buried under procedure and press releases. You can refuse to let fear write the final word. How will society remember? How will it grieve? Are we gonna change when confronted with the cost of our societies own actions? Do not dare look away, or you look away from yourself too. Do not dare numb yourself, because you numb what happens to those that are close to you too. This man, Alex Pretti, is not just another headline! His life was taken! He matters! Whatever you do with this defines who you are. 

Alex Pretti deserved better! (Blog)