Minnesota has shown the world that there is another way.
Violence mixed with bully tactics have no place in American civic life, and committed non-violent resistance can be a formidable response.
When Alex Pretti was shot and killed last weekend, administration officials were quick to label him a “domestic terrorist” and a “would-be assassin” who wanted to “kill law enforcement.”
We soon learned that he was an ICU nurse at a local VA hospital.
Later we saw multiple videos first showing him with a phone in hand and then helping a woman who had been shoved to the ground by an immigration officer.
Moments later, surrounded by multiple agents, he was shot 10 times in the back.
The administration responded by repeating earlier lies, but evidence told a different story, and pushback increased, some from the president’s own party, until the ICE commander in Minnesota was reassigned.
Even if other members of the administration lose their positions, it’s the president who bears final responsibility for the violent culture that has overtaken immigration agencies. He sets the tone by demonizing immigrant communities, ranting about “radical left lunatics,” and otherwise sowing division between Americans.
In Minnesota, the President’s oft-stated promise to pursue “the worst of the worst” led to 10 bullets in the back of a nurse, a cowardly killing of “the best of the best.”
Minnesota, we share in your grief, and we thank you for showing us a better way to care for each other.
David Christian
Port Angeles