It's cold out there
What’s left when you take “just” out of “justice?”
In the frigid fists of a vengeful President and his architects of evil, the agency created to protect “justice for all” has been tasked with defending armed personnel whose hearts seem as cold as the name of their eponymous agency.
The latest outrage? In the icy winter of Minnesota, Renee Good is shot dead in her car while trying, in panic, to get away from what Gal Beckerman called “an aggressive, violent, extrajudicial (and masked) paramilitary group exercising brute force.” Minutes later the Director of Homeland Security accuses Good of “stalking,” and labels her a domestic terrorist, implying she is subject to the death penalty without trial. Our Vice President makes it crystal clear: Renee Good’s death is a tragedy of her own making. Her mayor, horrified by what is happening in his city, is castigated for uttering “the F-word” and blamed for the violence: with a Democrat like that in charge, it’s obvious why we need boots on the ground, and if innocent civilians are shot, well, at least we know who’s at fault.
The moral inversion is familiar: raped girls chided for wearing short skirts, Americans on 9-11 advised we “had it coming,” flood survivors reprimanded for not having insurance, Israelis after October 7 scolded for “the occupation,” Iranian freedom-fighters executed as “troublemakers.” I am reminded of biting satire from the 1960s: when a Black highway driver is rear-ended, the cop on the scene asks the white driver who hit him, “how fast was he going when he backed into you?” Jokes work better when they depict truths that are no longer quite as relevant.
According to the Washington Post, Operation Metro Surge has already claimed 3,000 people arrested in cities across America, and there are now upwards of 2,000 Homeland Security personnel in Minneapolis alone. Governor Walz may have overstepped in calling them “Gestapo,” but images of heavily armed troops rounding up civilians, mostly non-white, are terrifying.
Yes, men and women in American uniforms are following orders – sound familiar? – but we need to refocus responsibility on those giving the orders and providing the funding while putting medical science, education, climate research, civil rights, national statistics, public health, and other public goods in a deep freeze.
And there’s no sign of a thaw, even as the majority of good Americans are appalled. When will the ICE melt? When will we put “just” back in “justice?”