Trampled
No one will save us but us
Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse, was murdered Friday by Trump’s ICE goons during a protest in Minneapolis. Pretti is the second American citizen in Minneapolis killed by ICE this month, after Renee Good was shot point blank January 7 by ICE agent Johnathan Ross. As with Good, Pretti has been labeled a “domestic terrorist” by Trump and DHS Obergruppenführer Kristi Noem. The Trump regime and its mouthpieces are again spouting baseless lies that Pretti was an aggressor despite every shred of video evidence clearly showing numerous ICE agents wrestling Pretti to the ground, beating him, and then opening fire. One video even shows an ICE agent clapping.
A world away, Iranians have taken to the streets to protest the regime in Tehran. Initially started over the dire economic crisis in Iran — due in large part to US sanctions against the Islamic Republic — the protests have grown into the largest demonstrations since the 1979 revolution. The Iranian government has cracked down on the protesters with lethal force. It’s estimated that tens of thousands of Iranians were killed by Islamic Republic forces on January 8 and 9, just a day after Renee Good was killed.
It’s difficult enough to wrap my brain around the US government executing two peaceful protesters. I can’t fathom the deaths of thousands of people at the hands of their own government. As an American, I know I exist in a news and information bubble. Like many — possibly most — Americans, I’m largely isolated from the rest of the world, which often feels so distant that it might as well be on another planet. I am ignorant of the struggles of the Iranian people, and of Iran in general.
What I do know is that the Iranian government has been openly tyrannical for decades. It’s oppressive and cruel and its leaders, who live in a perpetual state of fear, must resort to violence to keep the populace in line. People are disappeared, tortured, and executed for the slightest infractions. Killing tens of thousands for protesting is nothing new for the Iranian government.
Americans have committed atrocities against other Americans for centuries. Slavery. Native American genocide. Jim Crow. The Tulsa race massacre. The Battle of Blair Mountain. Kent State. Police killings of unarmed Black people. And too many more to list here.
In the face of those atrocities, the one thing that we could count on was the aspiration that We the People could use our voices and our votes to make tomorrow better than today. Maybe that was a myth. It was certainly limited to only a segment of our population, as millions of Americans have faced and still face oppression due to generational racism, economic instability, sexism, homophobia, and more. But I’d venture to guess that many of us at least felt as though we were immune to the type of oppression currently being faced by those brave Iranian protesters.
How many of you feel that now?
We can all be shot and killed by the Trump regime. We can all have our murders justified by the Trump regime by calling us domestic terrorists. You might think you have God-given rights as an American. You need to dispel that notion. Our rights extend only as far as the Trump regime allows, and at the moment now they’re cracking down on those rights.
Two state-sponsored murders pale in comparison to tens of thousands of state-sponsored murders. But two murders could be the start of tens of thousands of state-sponsored murders. Donald Trump and his regime are violent fascists. They are scared and small and are using violence to intimidate Americans.
Don’t be intimidated.
Yes, more Americans will die at the hands of the Trump regime. More Americans will be beaten and detained. But I’d rather stand up for what’s right than be silent and let these fascist bastards kill others, break up families, and terrorize communities.
No one is coming to save us other than us. You can hope for the best all you want. Hope is powerful. But hope requires action.
Protest. Speak out. Boycott. Call for a general strike. Film ICE. Reach out to your friends and neighbors. Take first aid and self defense courses. Call and write to your elected officials. Vote and get others to vote. Cause good trouble.
What’s happening in Minneapolis can happen in any town or city in America. What’s happening in Iran can happen here if we let it.
So don’t let it.
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Until one of these ICE thugs is sent to jail like Derek Chauvin, no one will be safe. The Renee Good's family has hired the same lawyer out of Chicago the sent Derek to jail. This is a huge step forward.
The comparison between here and Iran underscores how quickly people can lose any illusion of safety. I can hear how scared and angry you are, and that combination makes sense given what you’re describing.
I also appreciate that you don’t stop at outrage—you point people toward concrete civic actions. Channeling fear into community, organizing, and participation is a far steadier fuel than panic alone. Please keep taking care of yourself as you keep speaking out; sustained voices matter more than burned-out ones.