Pastor Tim’s February Message
What My Eyes Saw.
I saw an Intensive Care Nurse at a local Veteran’s Hospital peacefully protesting Immigration and Customs Enforcement as they sought out undocumented immigrants in Minneapolis, MN. His name was Alex Pretti. The federal officials (they may well have been Customs and Border Protection) shoved and pushed down one or two female protestors. Alex stepped in between them, his camera in his hand and his back turned toward the officer. The officer then began to spray pepper spray in his face and eyes, with Alex’s back still turned toward him. Other agents came over, threw him to the ground, and swarmed him. One agent disarmed him by removing the gun from his back belt and walked away from the scene. (Alex had a legal permit to carry a firearm in MN. He at no point brandished the weapon or could even be seen attempting to retrieve it.) An officer then shot him. The other officers then walked away backwards from him, as he lay face up in the street, helpless, while at least two other officers fired several more rounds. Alex died from his wounds.
Many other people are making many other claims about the threat or danger Alex posed. I see none of that. There are several videos circulating online; some are clearer than others. People will reach different conclusions. What my eyes saw was federal officials playing “judge, jury, and executioner” in this scene. How you can continue to fire rounds of a gun into an unarmed and seemingly motionless person as he lay face up in the street, posing no threat whatsoever, is beyond me. It is morally unconscionable in my opinion.
Not long ago, my eyes saw a woman named Renee Good peacefully protesting a similar scene in the same city. She had parked her car in the middle of the road, obstructing federal officials. She is instructed to remove her car (and even get out of it). Her driver side window is rolled down, she is unarmed and even speaks to the agent with a smile on her face, saying, “That’s fine dude, I’m not mad at you.” There is an agent standing at the front of her car, to the side. She turns her wheel clearly to the right, to go around him and drive off. She is driving slowly. There is brief contact of the vehicle and the officer as she turns away from him. As he is clearly to the side of the vehicle, he fires rounds from his gun into her. From the side. Her car accelerates and runs into a parked car. She died from her wounds. The agent walks over to the crashed car, then walks away from it, saying, “effing b.” (Except not in those words.)
Her last words to him, with a smile on her face: “Dude, I’m not mad at you.”
His last words to her: “Effing B.”
So, it’s not only what my eyes saw but what my ears heard.
Other perspectives and comments can be shared on these two incidents, and I understand that. However, from what my eyes saw, neither Alex Pretti nor Renee Good had to die nor deserved their fate. What we need is justice and due process of law, not insufficiently trained, armed officials operating out of frustration, anger, and wrath. And peaceful protest is not a crime.
Sharing the Love of Christ,
Pastor Tim
