A Nurse Was Executed Two Days Ago

This is for White folks because Black folks know it already. At least my main message.

Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse for the VA, was murdered by ICE on Saturday in the streets of Minnesota. The videos, if you’ve seen them, make that apparent. The federal administration is claiming it was justified because he was carrying a gun. Never mind that it was licensed. Never mind that it was holstered the whole time. Never mind that his actions and body language were occupied with care and concern for others, as opposed to aggression towards the officers. Never mind that that attitude contradicts every other argument made about the Second Amendment I’ve heard in recent years.

It got me thinking about a podcast series Radiolab did a while back about each of the Amendments. In the one about #2, it tells about how the 2nd didn’t get much attention until the Black Panthers did a legal, militia-style march on a government building in, I believe, California. (Please forgive me. I didn’t look up the story to get the specifics, but I believe I have the gist right. See the link above for the full podcast.) When folks saw those young black men with their rifles lined up on the steps looking serious, they were ready to ban all the guns!

via GIPHY

​That’s when the NRA got started. They began defending the right to bear arms not because they supported the Black Panthers, but because they didn’t want the actions of the Black Panthers to get the guns of law-abiding white folks taken away, too. That set the stage for where we are now. Look at how white people with guns at home are viewed versus black people with guns at home…

Also, to be clear, the Black Panthers were putting on a show of power to threaten the systems of oppression that needed to be overthrown. It was an act consistent with their other protests and programs around the country, like the school breakfasts in Chicago. Rhetoric like “they’re getting ready to shoot white women and children in their beds!” is fear-mongering nonsense made up by the systems of power they wanted to dismantle.

So, no, I’m unfortunately not surprised that I haven’t yet heard any vocal 2nd Amendment defenders speak up on Alex’s behalf. Guns were only ever meant for the right people.