I’m a garden-variety northern California baby boomer, teacher, writer, Mimi and Mama-to-the-second power who is sitting at my computer on Sunday afternoon, fingers pounding out a staccato song of outrage. Words are my most powerful weapon in what is, clearly, a fight to preserve our freedom.
As I learn more details about Saturday’s killing by Border Patrol agents of 37-year-old Minneapolis resident and intensive-care nurse, Alex Pretti, my heart is racing as though I’ve just run a seven-minute mile because, along with being horrified, I’m scared. I can’t help but draw parallels to another totalitarian government.
So many aspects of the Trump administration are hauntingly reminiscent of my father’s stories about the Nazi government’s rise to power. I always hoped I’d never experience anything remotely like what he experienced.
But here we are.
You might say the first red flag I saw were flags being used as a propaganda tool rather than a symbol of national pride. That’s something my dad talked about as a warning sign.
His education about nefarious governments began when he flew missions during World War II as a member of the Eighth Air Force, 95th Bomb Group, 335th Bomb Squadron out of Horham Airfield in Britain. He was a waist gunner on the Fritz Blitz when he was shot down on October 10, 1943, and that’s how he came to be a Nazi Germany prisoner of war in the infamous Stalag 17-B. He would be incarcerated for two-and-a-half years, only gaining his freedom when the Allied forces liberated dozens of concentration camps at the end of the war.
My father made it his priority to educate me on how important it is to fight—and keep fighting—in the face of threats—and even danger—at the hands of dictators. He told me it was imperative never to give up, even when it seems as though all is lost. All is not lost, but who could blame any one of us who may feel a loss of hope in view of recent events.
As an English teacher, I taught Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, feeling it was crucial that students be educated about McCarthyism and the term “witch hunt.” The most powerful lesson they learned was how simply repeating a lie enough times can alchemize it into a truth, especially when it is allowed to exist unchallenged.
Pointing at innocent people, so they’ll be found guilty while screaming, “Witch! Witch! Witch!” is happening right now, but a different term has been substituted in after the fact.
In our current state of occupation, our citizens are being called “domestic terrorists” to justify their execution. While this term has been used throughout history, it wouldn’t be until the USA Patriot Act of 2001 was passed that it was formally defined as a law; a law that can be used against its citizens by damaging their reputations to justify violence by the government.
According to http://www.Congress.gov, the federal government doesn’t have a pathway to formally charge an individual with this crime. What they do have is the ability to effectively utilize their vast governmental communications turned-up-to-11-amplification network: Mass media.
At first, I actually believed this would all get better before it got so much worse. Call it being overly optimistic, or call it being in denial. I just couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that our states are being occupied by hostile forces.
I’ve never been so afraid to ask, “Where will this all end?” And that’s actually NOT the question I’ll ask now.
HOW can we end this?
I believe it’s at the intersection of brave citizens speaking out every day—in any way they can—and our absolute unwavering commitment to fight against the current state of affairs in our country. We can’t give up. We won’t give up.
Minneapolis we’re with you.
ALL states. ALL citizens. Let me hear your voice. Let me read your words. Let me feel your hope.
Diane Dean-Epps, Writer 