After Renee’s killing, many rushed to border what occurred in legalistic phrases. Some insisted she was “breaking the legislation” by allegedly “obstructing” ICE, or that inserting her automobile within the path of a federal raid and bearing witness along with her associate—who was recording the occasions—someway made her culpable. We should be clear: there may be nothing inherently unlawful about being a authorized observer of presidency motion, neither is there something unlawful about peaceable protest. Each are constitutionally protected rights.
All through historical past, actions for justice have required individuals to put their our bodies between violence and the susceptible: sit-ins, locked arms, standing in doorways, blocking roads. Presence itself has lengthy been a type of resistance. And in our time, video has typically been the one mechanism of accountability. The racial justice reckonings of 2020 wouldn’t have occurred with out strange individuals filming what authorities had lengthy been in a position to deny—most notably the police homicide of George Floyd, killed lower than a mile from the place Renee would later lose her life. Minneapolis is aware of, maybe greater than most cities, that bearing witness isn’t provocation. It’s typically the final protection in opposition to erasure. None of that is criminality.
A lady witnessed her associates and neighbors being terrorized by brokers of the state, and he or she did what so many people say we might do. She intervened. She tried to do one thing, something, and he or she was killed for it.
She was killed by masked, armed brokers from an establishment that has spent months detaining individuals with out warrants, with out clear identification, with out significant accountability. ICE insists its mission is public security. However this incident displays extreme, disproportionate, and lethal drive in opposition to an unarmed civilian. It’s tough—if not inconceivable—to reconcile that with any credible definition of “protecting individuals protected.” After the capturing, a health care provider could be heard on video pleading with brokers to permit medical care. The brokers refuse. This isn’t the posture of individuals primarily involved with preserving life.
Within the Epiphany story, the Magi shield life by defying Herod. Right here, the brokers of the state deny care and go away a girl to die alone. Revelation cuts each methods. It comforts the susceptible and indicts the highly effective. It saves some and judges others—not as a result of God modifications, however as a result of individuals reply in another way when the reality is made seen.
You can not unleash chaos on communities, terrorize individuals in broad daylight, after which declare innocence when concern and resistance observe. You don’t get to be each the writer of violence and its sufferer. Herod slaughtered youngsters and nonetheless referred to as himself king. Empire has by no means lacked for self-justification.
ICE has been abducting individuals from sidewalks and parking heaps for months. That actuality doesn’t disappear as a result of it’s politically inconvenient. And if we can not title this plainly—if we can not grieve actually, communicate honestly, and refuse the lies supplied to us—then the hazard isn’t solely what has occurred, however what we’re permitting ourselves to develop into.
What adopted after Renee’s homicide issues as a lot because the killing itself. Federal leaders labeled her a “home terrorist” and blamed “the unconventional left.” Leaders of this nation justified the killing of an harmless civilian—with out empathy, with out regret—by reframing the train of constitutional rights as terrorism. That is how tyranny takes root: by retelling the story till violence sounds affordable and the harmless are made liable for their very own deaths.
Empire has all the time been expert at crafting narrative. Rome referred to as crucifixion “peacekeeping,” public terror a needed instrument for order. The gospel writers knew this, which is why they insisted on telling the story Rome wished buried. And it stays true right this moment. That is how empire survives: not solely by drive, however by story. By erasing violence, sanctifying energy, and demanding that the wounded doubt their very own testimony.
The day earlier than Renee’s homicide was the five-year anniversary of the January 6 revolt when a violent mob scaled partitions, carried crosses and erected nooses, assaulted safety officers with bats and poles, and violently broke into the seat of presidency whereas elected officers barricaded themselves and fled for his or her lives. They ransacked workplaces, stole confidential authorities supplies, and overtly tried to cease the peaceable switch of energy.
After which empire did what empire all the time does: it rewrote the story.
