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The nightmare next door
Once, in another lifetime, I was an eleven-year-old kid sitting in the back seat of a car being driven around by a drunk driver. I thought I could never again be so utterly frightened. And, until very recently, nothing much compared to that life/threatening-changing event. I felt as if nobody could feel my angst, and for many years after I’d wake up in a panic from the dream of that wild drive. However, over the years those dreams faded. And then?
Well, and then on January 7th, Renee Good was brutally murdered in Minneapolis by ICE “agents”. It, too, wasn’t a dream. It didn’t happen anywhere near me, but here we are dealing and reeling in a nightmare of new dimensions. I didn’t know Renee Good. But Renee Good was not a nobody. Renee Good was an “everybody”. I imagine she went from “I’m not angry with you” to feeling her life disappear in her vehicle. Renee Good was a mother, she had family and friends. Renee Good was thirty-seven years old. Renee Good was a writer. Renee Good was a poet. Renee Good was a citizen of the United States of America. At the time of her murder, Renee Good was unarmed. Renee Good was in the right place, but at the wrong time. In cold blood, in front of dozens of horrified people, and now on video for millions to see, Renee Good was shot at point blank range and, then, denied medical assistance in the final minutes of her life. I cried when I saw the videos. I felt that icy, cold fear of a dangerous, deadly outcome overwhelming me. Renee Good was all of us, cruising through life, thinking ordinary thoughts, doing everyday things—until she wasn’t.
As I write this on January 24th, another person was murdered in Minneapolis by ICE “agents”. Alex Jeffrey Pretti was a Registered Nurse who worked in the ICU of the Minneapolis Veterans’ Affairs Health Care System. Alex Pretti was thirty-seven years old. Alex Pretti had family who loved him. Alex Pretti had friends and co-workers who respected him. Alex Pretti was a peaceful protester who was in the right place at the wrong time. Alex Pretti was a citizen of the United States of America. Alex Pretti had no criminal record. Alex Pretti did have a handgun on his person, but he had a valid gun permit and Minnesota is an open carry State. Alex Pretti did not brandish his gun as he stooped to help a person shoved to the ground by an ICE “agent”. On camera, ICE “agents” disarmed Alex Pretti and likely used Alex Pretti’s gun to murder him after several “agents” had beaten him to the ground.
What has any of this got to do with my nightmare of so many years ago? Everything. Renee Good and Alex Pretti were innocent people who happened to be in what they thought was the right place, but it was the wrong time. They believed they’d be okay. They believed they’d go home. They surely believed what they were doing—at the time— wasn’t dangerous. They were victims. Alex on a sidewalk videoing ICE “agents” with his cellphone. Renee in her car trying to go home. What fuelled those unprovoked attacks? Drugs? Do the ICE “agents” get a hit of something before they head out on their sprees? Do ICE “agents” use ICE/methamphetamines or cathinones? I know the driver of the car I was in used alcohol to fuel his pain and his bad decision. But I got to go home.
Should we care about Renee Good and Alex Pretti? Absolutely! We are close neighbours to a greedy, hostile regime that doesn’t believe in, nor protect, the democratic rights of its citizens, nor respect those of its allies.
Neither Renee Good nor Alex Pretti had “asked for it”. Neither Renee Good nor Alex Pretti woke up thinking they should “poke the bear” today. That “bear” was provoked long before Renee Good and Alex Pretti found themselves in the right place at the wrong time.
May Renee and Alex Rest in Peace. May we all be aware of our surroundings. May we all “say something if we see something”.
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