Hello Downriver,
(It’s nigh impossible to ignore what’s been happening to our neighbor to the northwest: Minnesota…)
In the early 1960s, the violence inflicted on Blacks in the South was hidden behind a Confederate flag of lies and feigned ignorance by those who lived there and new better.
But then something happened:
The dogs sicced on protesters in the Deep South — in Birmingham (1963) and Selma (1965), among other moments — were captured on TV cameras and broadcast on NBC, CBS and ABC.
And the disappearance of three civil rights workers in 1964 —later found to have been murdered by members of the Mississippi Klan — prompted JFK to send the FBI into the South in an investigation dubbed “Mississippi Burning.”
Taken as part of a whole, these moments — captured on film and broadcast across the country, galvanized public opinion against segregation and accelerated political action for civil rights legislation.
Throughout the early and mid-’60s, the violence of Vietnam had been hidden behind government lies of supposed successes in the field, leading to a general public approval of the war.
But then something happened:
The horrors of jungle warfare in Vietnam were captured by TV cameras and broadcast on the nightly news — with Walter Cronkite, the most trusted reporter in America, eventually calling for a negotiated end to the war, almost overnight changing public attitudes.
And probably leading to LBJ’s decision not to seek re-election.
That’s right: two stories in American history, and both forever changed by watershed moments that tipped the scales.
No, history doesn’t repeat itself (although it may rhyme), but there are inescapable parallels.
And the execution of two 37-year-old American citizens on the streets of Minneapolis two and a half weeks apart may well have been the moments that collectively change American history yet again.
First, it was the murder by an ICE agent of Renée Nicole Good — a mother and poet — on Jan. 7.
Then it was the murder by another federal agent of Alex Jeffrey Pretti — an intensive-care nurse — over the weekend.
Individually, their executions are abhorrent enough, but taken in tandem, they now illustrate a complete disregard not only for the truth by Donald Trump and his administration, but a complete disregard for human life.
It’s now clear that his depravity knows no bounds.
How can I say that?
Because of what he and his Heinrich Himmler, his Joseph Goebbels — Stephen Miller (and co-play specialist Kristi Noem) — have said about these two American citizens; that Nicole and Alex were terrorists.
Without proof, without a shred of evidence — but with a burning need to control the narrative.
Even if it means lying to the American public.
Something Himmler and Goebbels knew how to do to perfection 90 years ago in Nazi Germany.
But unlike the 1930s or the 1960s, we have more than cinema newsreels or just the nightly news today; we have iPhones and instant communications and social media feeds — all of which have been sharing the videos that captured the moments in which Trump’s Gestapo executed two innocent people.
Terrorists?
Of course not — unless you’re talking about Trump and Miller and Noem and every other person in a leadership position within Trump’s inner circle of horror.
Because I’d argue that the terrorists we face in this country today wear suits and ties or oversized cowboy hats — and don masks, don’t show identification, claim they have some pretend warrant and swagger with automatic weapons — all hoping to gain traction with the American people.
But after two executions — on video — their hopes to control the narrative are now dashed.
Which leaves it to Congress to respond to the now deafening call for justice; for an independent investigation into both executions — for a start.
And then a complete repudiation of Trump and his authoritarian intents.
Impeachment?
You’re damn right, starting with Noem and Bondi — and then reaching into the Oval Office itself.
No, we may not get Trump’s conviction and removal by the sycophantic Senate; it’s been tried before, and he was protected both times — to the GOP’s eternal damnation.
But the very issuance of articles of impeachment by the House means the practical end of this presidency: It will be impossible for Trump to do any more damage to our nation.
And impossible for his Gestapo to execute any more Americans.
To read my essays, check out Substack.com and look for me at “Farrandipity.” It’s free. (And please share with like-minded individuals — and even those who aren’t.) Craig Farrand can be reached at craig.substack@gmail.com.
