Always There’s Somethin’
Those who hold wealth as their life
cannot give up their revenues.
Those who seek recognition
cannot give up fame.
Those who crave power
cannot yield to others.
While they possess,
they are afraid of losing them.
When they must let them go,
they are desperate
and will not reflect
upon on the futility
of their restless pursuits.
Such men
are
under the doom
of heaven.
Zhuangzi by Zhuangzou trans. by Hyun Höchsmann and Yang Guorong
What to do? On the other hand “do nothing” seems to be what my “gut”, my the deepest intuition whispers to me. Reason, my prefrontal cortex focuses, screams “You must oppose the rank injustice, shameless, deadly in the streets!” Common sense knows that in time terror will come to the neighborhoods of the Fox Valley communities where my family resides.
Yesterday a woman, Renee Nicole Good was shot in the face, fatally shot, up close and personal through the open driver-side window of her car by a federal ICE officer. Many video records are available of the killing. She stopped her vehicle in the middle of the street, an act of protest, of resistance to the roundup and expulsion of Latino people who live in Minneapolis. The official version of the life terminating event held that officers felt their lives threatened by the woman, ergo — “no harm and no foul” to their side. You can read what the BBC reported about the killing.
So what to do or not do, in response to the official policy of racial terror? Resist too vociferously, become a physical impediment to their freedom of movement and likely you will be summarily fatally shot, and a stupid press conference will describe your life-threatening presence. Dead is dead, however.
On the other hand this madness, the fever will run its course, will abate. Disease subsides when the patient expires…
The survivors, those “lucky” ones, at an indeterminate future, – can build again…
2 thoughts on “Always There’s Somethin’”
Of course. I do not understand how any decent human being can be unmoved by this blatant use of excess force. But we MUST remember that the perpetrator of this heinous act is not just the ICE thug who pulled the trigger, it is the culture of violence fomented by a cruel and sociopathic leader and the minions who have willingly bought into his insanity. This includes that disgusting excuse for a human being, Kristi Noem.
No one forced people to join ICE. Many of those who signed up were willing participants in the January 6th insurrection who attempted to overthrow the legitimate government of the United States. They did so under the direct orders of a megalomaniac by the name of Donald Trump and he has yet to be held accountable. We can draw a direct line from the efforts of a madman to retain power to the death of Renee Good. There is no grey area here, there is no nuance or circuitous route, it is a straight thick line of responsibility from Trump to the death of a mother trying to make her voice heard.
It is too late to save Renee Good, but there is time to save others, there is time to save our nation and our democracy. We must all speak up, we must all march, even if that entails placing ourselves in harms way, just at Renee did. THIS MUST END BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY!!!!!
First we (the liberal, pro-community minded) must cease deceiving ourselves that the administration, any of their functionaries are peer Americans who can be spoken to, and listened to. Federal behavior shows no regard for the humanity of anyone who does not agree with every word they publish, and with every policy announced. Forms of violence are at their disposal, as they are satisfied those who differ only deserve. Every word spoken is weaponized to ultimately cripple their opposition.
Who is prepared to organize on the premise that elections are irrelevant in so far as the right holds power? What type of push-back holds promise to matter? How much risk is each willing to take?