I need to say that each of the posts that I am now moved to do are absolutely excellent. And that certainly includes this piece by Oliver Kornetzke. Powerful, powerful voices of truth, integrity, courage, consciousness, and wisdom. Deepest bow of gratitude. And this one, as so many others do, breaks my heart wide open. And I am so grateful. So grateful for the experience of fierce caring, compassion, and love. Bless us all! 🙏 Molly
What I want to say is not meant in any way to diminish the senseless loss of life of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Their murders by ICE were horrific and unjust. Rather, my intention is to ensure that the tragedy unfolding before our very own eyes finally pushes us to have an open, honest, and serious conversation about our society.
Many people have noticed it, and I know without question that my Black, Brown, and Indigenous brothers and sisters have noticed it as well: the outrage gripping our nation over these two deaths feels different. Something massive has shifted. It has awakened people across all spectrums. But we need to ask ourselves why. Why are these two lives—these two murders by the state—treated differently from the countless others who have been killed by the very same state?
I can’t ignore a glaring similarity between them—they were both white. That is a painful and sad reality to confront. It is an indictment of our society on every level: legally, morally, spiritually, and intellectually. For centuries, innocent Black, Brown, and Indigenous people have been murdered by our government, the United States, with little to no real justice or accountability. Often, their families were met not with compassion, but with intimidation and threats. And the country, if it was even aware at all, moved on as if nothing had happened—no mass outrage, no calls for general strikes, no serious demands for the removal of officials. Simply put, it was back to business as usual.
Yet now, when the violence of the American state reaches white America in this same way, we see a very different response.
The sad and damning reality is that America has consistently shown that it only knows how to collectively grieve when white lives are taken. For far too long, this country has turned away when young Black men are murdered by the state, or when young Indigenous women go missing—the state treating these losses not as national tragedies, but as background noise, as an unfortunate and acceptable fact of American life. This selective outrage is not at all accidental; it is foundational to how this system has always functioned.
The murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti are horrendous atrocities committed by this criminal regime—the state, the government of the United States of America, Trump, Miller, Noem, Homan, Bondi, Bovino, DHS, CBP, ICE, and all those enabling them at every level. We should absolutely all be sick to our stomachs. We should be outraged. We should be angry as hell. We should be demanding nothing less than justice and accountability for the fascist criminal thugs who carried out these murders and whom continue to terrorise our communities.
But we must also recognize this moment for what it is: a true turning point in our collective history. A social awakening. An uprising, and an opportunity to finally reckon with the fact that this has been a reality for far too many Americans for centuries. If we are to be serious about real justice, then this must be the moment when Black, Brown, Indigenous, White—ALL people—come together as one large family of brothers and sisters, of human beings, to demand a better, more just, and more humane future for everyone—one where no one lives in fear of the state, and where justice and accountability are not determined by race, class, gender, sex, religion, or status.
We have to—we MUST—use this moment to push for real, meaningful, and structural systemic change. Not symbolic change or cosmetic fixes. Real, meaningful change. That means being honest with ourselves, looking in the mirror without denial, and doing the hard internal work—rather than applying surface-level solutions while our core continues to rot.
If there is one thing I have witnessed through all of the horror of the past year that gives me genuine hope, it is the overwhelming number of people of conscience who exist in this world—people who feel this deeply and want exactly this kind of change; people like Renee Good and Alex Pretti, who put their lives on the line for others and paid the ultimate price in doing so. We must remind ourselves of this during moments of tragedy, honor those who came before us and who sacrificed so much, so that we do not lose our humanity or our sense of hope. Let this truth guide us forward. Hold onto it as a guiding star. We will get through this era, and we will emerge as a stronger, better people and a more just society. I believe this truly, in the deepest depths of my being.
May the lives lost at the hands of this evil government, across all time, not be in vain. May they serve as a guiding light in this dark moment, leading us toward a better, more just future rooted in humanity.
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