I expressed my current reaction to the murder, maiming, and mayhem brought on my friends and community with last night’s attacks by a right wing madman on the progressive, indeed civilized, part of society here in Minnesota. This what I wrote on the Facebook Group of Indivisible West Metro, a group I help organize.
I'm a writer with few words right now, but I wanted to say a few things about today's events and the medium to short term future. I've been watching and listening and collecting information, most from the same public sources you all have.
These people that were killed or wounded were part of my life. I've been in their homes, I've worked with them; I've known John since before he was in the legislature, and I've known Melissa since moving (plus or minus) into her district during what must have been her first term, and I worked on her campaign. I've been represented by each of them in the legislature. They were leaders who managed to wrangle legislation from both parties, but they were dedicated to progressive goals. Melissa was unparalleled in standing up for women's rights, and John devoted much of his political energy to supporting people with disabilities. I did not know Melissa's husband other than to have met him briefly, but Yvette have had a long jovial mainly facebook friendship.
So when I think about the disasters that happened to them, I feel the pain we all feel when a respected or beloved public figure is attacked or killed, but I can imagine the horrific events happening in surroundings that are directly familiar to me, and to people that I've talked to, hugged, shook hands with, or, in many cases, complained to. (Just doing my job as an activist.)
And I have so many other friends that were on the killer's list, who are now anxiously waiting for the next thing to happen, and to hopefully be safe. The fact is, they are not really safe now, until the killer is caught. The killer is skilled. He seems to have left the scene of the murder in a way suggesting he had another vehicle or some way of getting around. He appears to be something of a master of disguise. I wonder, and fear, that he will emulate Erik Rudolph and vanish into the wilderness. I hope he will be caught without violence. I'll settle for him having crawled behind some bush somewhere and expired.
If the following two things become clear, I will have an ask for you.
1) We come to an understanding of relative safety. The killer is caught or otherwise managed, or we believe somehow he is not a factor; and
2) we come to understand with certainty that this was an act of violence of the right against the left (and the center and everyone else).
This second condition, as far as I can tell, is already certainly true. The first, we will have to see over the coming hours or days.
When those conditions are met, I would like you to join me on Vicksburg. You know the place. I'd like to fill the space from 55 to Rockford, both sides, with a PEACEFUL and humbled group (stay off the pavement!) A weekend coming up. We will have to discuss timing and safety.
I would like you to join us in a demonstration that will serve as a demand put to the right and the regime to stop their violent and aggressive rhetoric, and the actual violence. It does not matter exactly why this killer acted as he did. It also does not matter what the right says about the wrongness of his acts. The right has cultivated a field of social and rhetorical hate and this violence, and other acts we are seeing by ICE, police, fakers, and others, constitute the fruit of that hate.
I'm not asking for a call of calm and peace on all sides. Our side is already explicitly non violent. I'm asking you to join me in non-violently but sternly insisting that those on the right become, after all, civilized. Think of the messages we might put on our signs, the types of flags we might carry, the sorts of chants we might incant, if we want to make that point.
For now we await the short term resolution, grieve for the lost and injured, offer whatever support we can to those on this madman's list or others who are threatened.
One thing we need to know but can guess at based on current news reports: Did he intend to attack one of our demonstrations? It appears possible. If this is true, and his whereabouts unknown, we will need to think hard about what to do. But do something we must.
Thank you all, I love you all.
What happened is summarized here.
Thank you my friend. I have no words to span the chasm of grief and horror. Today, at the No Kings protest in my *new* home here in the PNW, I was granted the solace and community of a gifted Indigenous singer in traditional cedar hat and drum who sang a women warrior song for the duration of the protest. She allowed me to hold the flag that kept blowing in her way. Countless community members included me in their gratitude to her for her singing. Her song, in words of a language I don’t know, communicated my emotions as nothing else could.
No one can be called illegal by those who stole land.
We grieve. We love. We continue.