I have struggled to write about the events that unfolded over the weekend in Minneapolis. The brutal and unwarranted killing of Alex Pretti is all over social media and shows no signs of leaving the news cycle any time soon. In fact, the political fallout from the killing of Pretti has been so severe and bipartisan that it now seems that Trump is finally backing down in a way that he was not prepared to do in the case of the killing of Renee Good. Trump is nothing if not well-tuned into the mood of the people as expressed in the media (especially the conservative media, which has been as incensed as the liberal press at the unjustified ICE actions in Minnesota) and he knows that Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller have dealt him a losing hand. Trump has taken the first step towards distancing himself from Noem and Miller, something he was bound to do eventually, but something he has been very slow to come to. It’s unclear whether the Trump will ultimately take action against the ICE agents who shot and killed Pretti, but at very least, he has stepped away from the partisan rantings that implied that Pretti was a domestic terrorist who was in the midst of trying to “massacre” the ICE agents involved. As willing as he is to tow the DHS story line on the Renee Good murder that she was to blame and that it was self-defense by the ICE agents who shot her, it seems someone in his coterie has told him that the Pretti case is simply too hard to stand behind in the same way.
There are several dimensions to the Pretti case that are different from the Good case. Both were extensively caught on protestor cell phone videos, which were both equally compelling in their defense of protestors’ innocence. Good was accused of trying to use her car as a weapon against ICE, but Pretti was carrying a concealed weapon (permitted and allowed, but a gun nonetheless). It may be as simple as which of the incidents came first, since there is a reason to suggest that there is a cumulative impact from these incidents on the minds of the public. But I suspect the truth of the difference in the Trump reaction lies in who each of these two victims represent in the eyes of the public. Good was a white middle-aged lesbian woman with decided liberal leanings. Pretti was a white ICU nurse working with veterans at the VA, exercising his second amendment rights as interpreted under Minnesota law to carry a concealed handgun. Someone in Trumpland has done the calculus and determined that sympathy for a liberal lesbian was much less than for a gun culture member who honors veterans. Trump was unwilling to risk pissing off veterans groups and second amendment folks, who fall squarely in his voter base and who have many other reasons for feeling more disaffected these days. This is all pure political calculus, which should surprise none of us about Trump.
As I was scanning through Instagram today, something I do regularly as an added means of keeping up to date on my kids’ activities, I is surprised at how many Alex Pritti testimonials I saw from all manner of social media participants. Some were from sympathetic friends and family of the victim pleading for justice (a very compelling plea, given the facts). Some were the to-be-expected liberal rants focused on the breakdown of democracy and the rule of law. Some were politicians positioning themselves to represent their sense of the righteousness of the moment. And still others were decidedly conservative spokespeople like a Texas rancher who claimed that he had had enough of the ICE tactics. They almost all spelled out the simple story of what had happened on the ground at the scene of the shooting (some with video highlights), followed by a recital of the despicable and false commentary put out by Noem and Miller immediately following the incident. And then there was photo of the jumbo screen in Times Square with a half-length portrait of Alex Pretti in his scrubs, looking about as American and “of-service” as a man could be. I only saw a fraction of as much fuss on social media for Renee Good. In that case there was a country prepared to emphasize the injustice of the shooting and the Administration’s false interpretation of events, but minds less about the person of Renee Good other than to call her a white, suburban mother of three. Alex Pretti, by contrast, is quickly becoming a poster-boy for patriotism. What can we say? The world on both sides of the aisle seems to find Pretti to be a more compelling martyr figure for America in this time of strife with the Trump Administration. That is the sad truth.
A martyr is someone who suffers persecution, torture, or death rather than renounce their religious beliefs, political principles, or other deeply held convictions. The word comes from the Greek word “martys”, which means witness. Alex Pritti was indeed a witness to the brutal ICE tactics on the streets of Minneapolis. He had a cell phone camera in one hand and was busy trying to help a woman who had been shoved to the ground by a violent ICE agent. The term martyr originally meant someone who testified or bore witness to their faith, but it evolved to mean someone who dies for their beliefs, and Alex Pritti clearly died for his belief in the lack of righteousness of the ICE actions on the streets of his city. He was someone who choose death over abandoning his principles. He made a conscious choice, a choice to not just be a victim, but someone who stood up against injustice.
The great martyrs of history are many with names like Joan of Arc, Spartacus, Nathan Hale, Medgar Evers, Martin Luther King Jr., Alexei Navalny, and, the greatest martyr of them all…Jesus Christ. Martyrs wield extraordinary influence because they tap into deep psychological, social, and spiritual dynamics that transcend ordinary political or religious persuasion. Death has a way of validating sincerity. They create moral authority and galvanize mass action by unifying fractured movements like the anti-ICE sentiment. The “David vs. Goliath dynamic” is very powerful and transcends mortality. “You can kill a man but not an idea”. Even Star Wars’ Obi-Wan Kanobi said, “Strike me down and I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine”. Martyrs grow through media amplification and that is already underway. The brutality of the death unfortunately matters with a graphic death creating and even stronger emotional response. George Floyd’s death (also a Minnesota event) was filmed and shared globally instantly. Navalny’s prison diaries reached millions. And digital immortality preserves the words of martyrs like Pretti (spoken over the bedside of a dying veteran) last forever.
Martyrs are powerful because they prove the cause is worth dying for, which is the ultimate validation. They create moral debt and make us survivors honor their sacrifice. They simplify complex issues, generate powerful emotions, unify disparate groups around a shared loss, and tap into deep narratives of sacrifice, redemption and heroism. This is why tyrants like Trump fear martyrs more than armies. The power of martyrdom is that it transforms weakness (death) into the ultimate strength (meaning that survives forever). We are witnessing the making of a martyr.