We Are All Alex Pretti
Godspeed: good fortune; success (used as a wish to a person starting on a journey, a new venture, etc.).
Rather than the usual Tuesday, I'm publishing on a Monday, compelled to write about the weekend's news when writing about business feels beside the point.
Perhaps like you, I can’t get the image out of my head.
A nurse moves to help a woman who has been pepper sprayed.
Some see a domestic terrorist.
Others, a Samaritan – and a citizen exercising constitutional rights.
Alex Pretti was killed on a day of the continuing protesting against ICE in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Held down on the ground by the goon squad and shot.
Ten gunshots, five seconds.
And Alex Pretti is gone.
Ten gunshots, five seconds.
Two dead in Minnesota.
Republican leaders, recklessly silent. Billionaires and big business, quietly contemplating the calculus of their boardroom decisions: Should I or shouldn’t I?
Two weeks ago I wrote a post, Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?, about a vacancy in the soul and the lack of courage in our leaders, elected and corporate.
So, I’ll ask again – Where have all the cowboys gone?
(Cowboys in this case serving as an aspirational character test for “leaders.”)
Again, silence, while everyday citizens like Renee Good and Alex Pretti are gunned down by hired guns intoxicated by power and flush with $50,000 signing bonuses.
We’ve seen the videos. Damning for some; discounted by others.
As George Orwell wrote in his novel 1984, "The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command."
In 1965, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart said, “I know it when I see it,” to describe his threshold test for obscenity.
Both are still apt in January 2026.
Alex Pretti. ICU nurse, neighbor, friend.
Ten gunshots, five seconds.
Two dead in Minnesota.
(Four dead in Ohio.)
From every gruesome angle, we know what we saw.
ICE has taken two lives, brought grief to families, and suffocating fear to a community. It has inflicted a deep wound on the collective psyche of Americans everywhere.
Of course, that might be the Administration’s objective.
Remember: Each of us is Alex Pretti. Each of us is Renee Good.
We need our leaders to stand up or step aside. Now is not the time to ruminate over polls and reelection prospects and pennies per share...or the Capital Letter next to your name, D or R.
What does “standing up” look like for our leaders? They can take a lead from everyday citizens: Publicly voice their opinion and constructively use economic heft and political levers. Perhaps even join with other citizens in a physical protest. Beyond that, I’m not entirely certain.
I’m sure, though, that like Justice Stewart, I’ll know it when I see it.
The rest of us – we must continue to bring our hearts and actions and votes to bear on shaping a positive and humane outcome and restoring our country to a place of sanity – and democracy.
We must use our creativity, too, as with this night-time projection in Los Angeles.
What’s urgently needed today by our fellow citizens in Minnesota is our help. Thoughts and prayers are table stakes. From afar, we can stand with them, stand up for them, raise our voices for them.
We can tell our U.S. Senators, “No money for ICE.”
(You can quickly do that here.)
We can obtain the tools we need to exercise our rights to legally document and record the actions of ICE in our communities.
(You can join an “Eyes on ICE” virtual call organized by No Kings this next Monday, January 6th.)
We can also, you and I, put our money where our proverbial piehole is by donating to organizations serving Minnesota in this time of need. One effort, Stand With Minnesota, is a directory with ways to help groups on the ground in Minnesota, efforts that provide aid and relief to those in need during this time of crisis.
You know, simple things, like help with rent relief and mutual aid resources, pet and animal assistance and diaper funds, among others.
I made a modest contribution to the cause, selecting UNIDOS MN, an immigrant-run organization getting things done on the ground.
Godspeed, friends.
Russ