Crying Out For Truth

Laureen and Willie are remarkable people. I know because for a number of years they were, along with their young son, members of our congregation in Cleveland. It was a privilege to know them. When professional opportunities called them to Minneapolis, while important for them, their move was a significant loss for our Cleveland congregation.

Typical of them, Laureen and Willie quickly became involved in the life of Minneapolis and in a new church community. That involvement has only grown deeper over these past years.

Along with a number of others in their circle of friends, I received an email from Laureen several days ago. In these tragic times made so by Trump himself and his gaslighting, sycophantic ideologues who lie easily and without any sense of humanity or restraint, I want to share a portion of Laureen’s email:

I am furious and heartbroken and emotionally exhausted. Every day, I hear first-hand accounts from witnesses of ICE activities. Police chiefs, school superintendents, the head of MN Corrections, dozens who have been detained and or witnessed detainments are sharing what they’ve encountered…

…Here’s what I can tell you: ICE and Border Patrol agents (masked with no identification) have detained thousands of humans here in Minneapolis and surrounding area—citizens (born in the US and naturalized), non-citizen immigrants here with legal papers, those with no criminal records, children, and yes, some without documentation. They have been illegally entering homes, apartments, businesses and going on school grounds. They are pulling people off of bus stops, grabbing them off sidewalks and parking lots, and dragging them into vans. They are boxing cars in, breaking car windows, pulling people out of cars. People have been disappeared and no one knows where they are. Witnesses, including members of the press, have been sprayed at point blank with pepper spray, tear gas, and other chemicals. ICE agents have been following people who are acting as witnesses back to their homes and tracking their cars. They are detaining lawful witnesses. Again, this activity has been directed at citizens, those with legal papers, and people with no criminal histories…

…Renee Good was killed 1 ½ miles from our house; Alex Pretti was killed this morning 3 miles from us…I am so proud to be part of a community that will not sit passively by. Yesterday, tens of thousands in our community marched peacefully in the bitter cold (-10 degrees) downtown… I am in awe.

I also want to include in this blog the statement made by two other residents of Minneapolis, Susan and Michael Pretti, the parents of the murdered by ICE agents, Alex Pretti. They write:

We are heartbroken but also very angry. Alex was a kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends and also the American veterans whom he cared for as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital. Alex wanted to make a difference in this world. Unfortunately, he will not be with us to see his impact…

…his last thought and act was to protect a woman. The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting. Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs. He had his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down, all while being pepper sprayed. Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man.

As I have written several times in my blog posts, Donald Trump is not well. He is not well mentally, psychologically, emotionally, or spiritually. 

Rather than getting good counsel and intervention amid his significant impairment, President Trump is surrounded by ideologues such as Christian Nationalist, Russell Vought, and white supremacist, Stephen Miller. Because of their access and influence, President Trump wields his enormous power not only under their significant influence but with an ever-growing bubble of sycophant enablers such as J.D. Vance, Caroline Leavitt, Kristi Noem, Pam Bondi, Kash Patel, and U.S. Senate toadies from Ohio such as Jon Husted and Bernie Mareno. 

The list goes on and ever on. Each day truth is purposely eroded, power is centralized in madness, the Constitution of our nation is purposely ignored, and enormous emoluments in office are gained. 

So, as truth is placed on a scaffold and American citizens are murdered on our city streets, grieving wives, shattered parents mourning a murdered son cry out to be heard.

We must do as Jesus taught. Pray for our enemies. Tragically for our country, our greatest enemies are leading our own federal government. So in addition to praying for them we must also work to oppose and remove them from power by all lawful democratic means. We must also put prayer into action by standing up and witnessing for what God requires of us. Namely, to live justly, be sources of mercy, have humility before God, and love our neighbors as ourselves. 

If we do not join together with others in this calling, our cities will be occupied, our world allies continually threatened, and the health of all of us left to the continued chaos of incompetent leadership and the unqualified ministrations of our national health by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

We shall be sick and dying in ever greater and entirely preventable numbers.