Jan 27

Jan 27 Kent State Redux

Demonstrations, Donald J. Trump, Performance, Protest, Public Declarations

Four days ago, we may have finally crossed the Rubicon when U.S. Border Patrol officers murdered intensive care nurse Alex Jeffrey Pretti. Across the political spectrum, Donald J. Trump’s pugilistic schtick now shows signs of wearing thin. For eight weeks, people throughout the United States have watched U.S. Border Patrol officers unleash mayhem on the streets of Minneapolis. Over the last several months, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, under Secretary Kristi Noem’s leadership, has brought political theater to Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Portland, and New Orleans, with the threat of government-incited violence escalating in each successive city.

Polling repeatedly reveals that an overwhelming majority of Americans support Trump’s effort to deport violent criminals who are in the country illegally. What that majority does not support is deporting people without criminal records, particularly when they are snatched from apartment buildings, courthouses, doctors’ offices, hospitals, schools, and Target stores. American sensibilities are further offended when the U.S. Department of Homeland Security personnel whisk migrants out of the country without due process.

What is particularly galling to many is the performative nature of much of what we see endlessly unfolding on the cable news networks: People dragged out of cars; tear gas canisters released in residential neighborhoods; people tackled in the street; and legitimate First Amendment activity impeded through not-so-subtle threats of violence. None of these tactics are necessary to accomplish Trump’s stated goal of rounding up dangerous people who are in the country illegally.

Shortly after the murder of Alex Jeffrey Pretti last Saturday, the mask was torn off. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi made a three-point offer/demand to Minnesota Governor Tim Waltz. The most salient point being an an ostensible exchange: U.S. Border Patrol officers would retreat if state officials turned over voter records to the Trump Administration. Those records include confidential information such as Social Security and driver license numbers. Doing so would be illegal under Minnesota law.

Many observers have characterized the U.S. Border Patrol as Trump’s personal militia, a force that could be easily positioned throughout the country as Trump seeks to achieve objectives far beyond deporting dangerous migrants. Bondi’s offer decisively demonstrated that Trump is willing to use his “militia” to further interference in the 2026 midterms—an election that could flip the House, thereby defanging Trump.

Since Saturday, so much citizen video has emerged that the public has seen the Pretti murder from every conceivable angle. No one except the most brainwashed MAGA diehards believes the Trump Administration’s claims that Pretti was an assassin bent on killing U.S. Border Patrol agents. Given the Noem offer and the videos, the last several days look to be a turning point, with the Trump and his henchmen finally losing all credibility across the political spectrum.

For Trump, Pretti’s murder is a seminal event, equivalent to the May 4, 1970 Vietnam-era incident at Kent State, where 28 members of the Ohio National Guard fired 67 bullets into a group of students demonstrating against the Richard M. Nixon’s expansion of the Vietnam War into Cambodia, killing four students and wounding nine others.

Yesterday, Trump, who if nothing else, is well practiced in the art of self-preservation, apparently realized that Pretti’s murder and the associated optics could be a turning point, upsetting not only the “Lunatic Left,” but also many Independents, Republicans and even some MAGAites. Cracks are developing in Trump’s endless bilge, causing him to a more conciliatory tone.

Today, as I covered a rally outside the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center at the intersection of Taylor Street and Damen Avenue, I sensed the seismic shift. By the end of the demonstration, 150 participants had gathered at the corner, overflowing into the street, as CPD officers created a protective barrier between the demonstrators and passing vehicles. The speakers struck a much different tone, one that was more spiritual than antagonistic. Yes, there were plenty of references to ICE and Trump, followed by the recurring chant, “ICE Out.” But today was about eulogizing Pretti and Renee Nichol Good, the Minneapolis woman who was shot to death by U.S. Border Patrol officer Jonathan Ross just over two weeks ago.

I can’t put my finger on what exactly caused me to recall the martyrdom at Kent State and the resulting change in attitudes it brought about. Maybe it was the individuals holding colorful placards shaped as Monarch butterflies. Or maybe it was the winter blue sky and clean, bright light reflected off the snow—a winter purity. Possibly, it was the fact that this demonstration was not in Daley or Federal Plazas, but at a veterans’ hospital like the one where Pretti worked.

The speakers offered the most visible sign that we are in the midst of a sea change. Father Brendan Curran, who was the first speaker, set the tone. The person who introduced Curran indicated that Curran would offer a prayer, but instead, Curran delivered a sermon. Over the next 30 minutes, veterans from About Face—Veterans Against the War, a nurse from the National Nurses United, a third-year resident at Northwestern McGaw Medical Center, and a number of labor union leaders spoke. With the exception of Navy Veteran Daniel Lakemacher, all were firm in denouncing what had transpired in Minneapolis, but each was measured, keeping the focus on the two victims.

Lakemacher, who is an excellent public speaker, exhibited controlled rage. Given the senseless killings and the overall brutality exhibited by U.S. Border Patrol officers, some fire and brimstone was both warranted and welcomed.

Following the speeches, the group marched westward on the sidewalk adjacent to the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center. Unlike the marches in the Loop, this one was solemnly quiet, projecting a reflective vibe.

My perceptions about a turning point could be wrong, but let’s hope not. Four days after Pretti’s murder, the events in Minneapolis still dominate the news, a sign that a nerve has been struck in the body politic. Trump appears to be in retreat, sensing that the winds of change are blowing.

Photographic Postscript: I re-examined John Filo’s Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph depicting Mary Ann Vecchio, in anguish, kneeling over Jeffrey Miller’s dead body. Miller was one of the students shot to death by the Ohio National Guard. That photograph is at least partially responsible for the shift in public opinion that occurred after Kent State against the Nixon Administration’s war effort, just as Saturday’s cellphone videos are responsible for the shift in public opinion against Trump’s heavy-handed immigration policies. Visuals are critical in shaping and shifting public opinion.

For me, Filo’s photograph is far more powerful than all the videos captured last Saturday. Still images both invite and force the viewer to contemplate a single frame, grabbing the viewer’s attention AS the viewer examines the image. Video, on the other hand, obscures the decisive moment. It invites contemplation and reflection after the fact, but the viewer has a far more difficult time reflecting on the video as he watches it because he must watch the next frame, and then the next one, ad infinitum. Because the thought process occurs only after the video is finished—”What did I just see?”—the visual experience is not nearly as searing as the one that occurs while the viewer gazes at a single, still image.

[Click on an Image to Enlarge It. The Images Are Not Necessarily in Exact Chronological Order]