DURING DEMOCRACY’S DANGEROUS WINTER, INSPIRED CITIZENS AND STEADY TRUTH-TELLING  A PROTEST for shooting victim Renee Good at Newport City Hall Jan. 8. PHOTO CREDIT: Brian Jones THIS IS A TERRIBLE WINTER.
But it is also an inspiring one. Much of the country today was digging itself out of a savage, massive weekend storm sponsored by natural forces at their cruelest, which predictably delivered misery and death. A parallel political storm also raged, as democracy fought for survival in a struggle that was not just legal and constitutional, but became a matter of literal life and death. These terrible natural and political winters coalesced in Minneapolis, where federally sanctioned thugs have been brutalizing residents for weeks under pretense of immigration enforcement. By now, we know that massive street protests not only require participants to resist Minnesota’s brutally cold temperatures, but risk arbitrary arrest and manhandling by pseudo police. And that protests have come at an even higher price – literally the lives of participants: Renee Good, a writer and poet, as she drove her car Jan. 7; and, last Saturday, Alex Pretti, a registered nurse, as he video recorded federal “agents.” WHAT I AND MILLIONS OF AMERICANS find inspiring is the patriotism Minneapolis citizens have demonstrated when confronted by the invasion of their city by rogue federal forces. They have carried out huge traditional protest marches; they’ve tracked and recorded federal thugs with smart phones, sounding shrill whistles to alert fellow residents of their malevolent presence. And by now, they know, and we know, that these Constitutionally protected activities can come at the cost of participants’ lives. As the Pretti killing played out, I was struck by something else just as inspired, the declaration by major news outlets that federal officials were lying about the circumstances of Pretti’s death. Federal officials labeled Pretti a domestic terrorist bent on assassinating federal agents. But throughout the weekend, the New York Times, the Associated Press and other outlets said that their analyses of video recordingS said otherwise "Videos on social media that were verified by The New York Times appear to contradict the Department of Homeland Security’s account of the fatal shooting of Alex Jeffrey Pretti, 37, by federal agents in Minneapolis on Saturday morning," the Times wrote FOR THE FIRST YEAR of the Trump second term, we have wondered how the nation will respond to an unhinged autocratic president. Would citizens and the media be largely dormant? The answer this weekend is a firm “no.” Protest and truth-telling are robust and astonishing this winter. Will they be enough? Can they be sustained? No one can tell. Success is never guaranteed. But the crusade for democracy is underway, at great price during a dark and dangerous season. The bravery is as inspiring as it is essential.
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THIS LAND IS ...?  NOTE: As the avalanche of terrible news keeps rolling while Donald Trump remakes the planet, I keep thinking of Woody Guthrie's anthem to democracy. I'm sure I'm not the first to translate Guthrie's sacred lyrics. But it's hard to resist. BCJ
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BRIAN C. JONES
I'VE BEEN a reporter and writer for 61 years, long enough to have learned that journalists don't know very much, although I've met some smart ones.
Mainly, what reporters know comes from asking other people questions and fretting about their answers. This blog is a successor to one inspired by our dog, Phoebe, who was smart, sweet and the antithesis of Donald Trump. She died Feb. 3, 2022, and I don't see getting over that very soon. Occasionally, I think about trying to reach her via cell phone. |
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