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Unsurprisingly murder victim Alex Pretti is being smeared by those trying to justify his murder. This is an article about the need for restraint against the heavily armed aggressors... The aggressors are allowed far more latitude for violence than citizens are - as can be seen from the outrageous reactions to Pretti's rather benign actions 2 weeks ago and use of that "gotcha" to smear his good name.
I think it is important to talk about ICE and its use of masks to shield agents from prosecution for their crimes that began in March 2025 - presumably because of plans to suspend restraint and lawfulness by agents selected for their violent impulses.
A few important facts about ICE terrorism:
..U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was created on March 1, 2003. While undercover agents may have used masks previously, the widespread, routine use of masks (balaclavas, neck gaiters, and surgical masks) by ICE officers during standard enforcement operations largely began in March 2025.
Therefore, ICE existed for approximately 22 years before agents began regularly wearing masks to hide their identities during, for example, detention operations of student activists and critics.
The logical question arises - what happened around the time they began to routinely wear masks? Trump was escalating his "crackdown" and apparently needed to shield agents from accountability for their crimes EVEN though ICE had existed for 22 years without the need for masks. Normal law enforcement doesn't need masks, National Guard doesn't need masks. But ICE and Homeland (sic) Security need masks all of a sudden.
Pepper Spray - Mr Pretti was sprayed in the face by pepper spray. It is only legal to spray someone's face, apparently, if it is being used for lawful self defense. There was no lawful justification for the ICE agent's escalation and provokation when his life was under NO THREAT. The use of pepper spray, other chemical weapons and "non lethal" projectiles (that are sometimes lethal) has become the "go to" for angry and violent ICE agents.
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ALEX PRETTI’S LESSON FOR US ALL
A new video of Alex Pretti’s earlier confrontation with ICE on January 13, in which he was taken down and his chest and ribs were fractured, shows him kicking out the tail light of the ICE vehicle. Before the fateful moment, Pretti is shown Pretti is with other protesters, shouting at ICE agents whose vehicle is blocking the street. As the vehicle pulls slowly away, Pretti kicks at the taillight and then delivers a second kick that shatters the red plastic and leaves the taillight dangling in a display of righteous anger. The agents then get out, grab him and take him down. A struggle ensues as bystanders shout, honk horns and record the incident. During this, Pretti is rolled on his face and the handgun in his waistband can be seen. As in the second incident, Pretti never uses his gun. A chemical spray is deployed. The agents do not take him into custody.
A representative for the Pretti family confirmed to CBS News, CNN and NBC News that the man in the video was Pretti. Legal experts said that Pretti’s actions during the earlier confrontation would have no legal bearing on whether or not the use of lethal force was justified in the shooting. Emmanuel Mauleón, an associate professor of law at the University of Minnesota said that a prior confrontation “that involved, at most, yelling at officers and breaking a taillight has no legal bearing on whether lethal force was justified at the moment Pretti was shot.” Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor and president of West Coast Trial Lawyers in Los Angeles said: “The video is a bad look for Pretti, but it’s for the court of public opinion and not evidence that will ever make it into a courtroom. Unless the Border Patrol agents knew about the prior violence, it is not relevant to whether the subsequent use of deadly force was justified.” Senator Elissa Slotkin said Pretti’s actions on January 13 do not justify Saturday’s shooting and an independent investigation is needed. “Even if he knocked in a light, which is not lega, you don’t deserve to be shot 10 times in the street. So, I think this is why we need some independent voices here.”
Trump has not commented about this news other than to post a screenshot of a comment on X: “Such a peaceful protester,” and another describing Pretti as a “domestic terrorist.” MAGA is having a field day with it. Benny Johnson shared the video saying “LEFTIST HOAX DESTROYED,” and that it proved Pretti was not an “innocent bystander” but “a violent agitator and psychopath hellbent on attacking federal law enforcement.” Matt Walsh, a right-wing commentator and podcast host, said Pretti was “a violent agitator who repeatedly went out armed to deliberately instigate physical confrontations with law enforcement” and “not a victim.” Matt Walsh said Pretti was “a violent agitator who repeatedly went out armed to deliberately instigate physical confrontations with law enforcement” and “not a victim.” Megyn Kelly wrote on X: “Alex Pretti was itching for another confrontation with Border Patrol, whom he’d been stalking, harassing and terrorizing. HE had been victimizing THEM. His felonies are on tape. He was reckless, and it cost him his life. Find another poster boy, illegal-loving Leftists.”
As with - I am sure - many of you, I have no difficulty identifying with Alex’s righteous anger at what ICE is doing to us. There are at least a couple times a day when I wish I could do far worse than that to them. My first reaction to seeing the video was “Right on, Alex!”
And there is our problem.
Back in 1969, I became an opponent of the SDS Weathermen. Not because I didn’t understand them; I knew several of them, including two who died in the New York town house explosion. I had been at the same events they had, had been attacked by the police in four different events and had a definite feeling of personal satisfaction about how we took the streets in Oakland on the final day of Stop the Draft Week in October 1967.
I also knew that we had not stopped the draft when we fought back that Friday. Two hours after the last of us headed up Telegraph Avenue back to Berkeley, they brought the buses full of draftees in and processed them to go to Vietnam.
We also “lost the story” that day. The press was able to portray us as violent, as attacking police (I knocked one down from behind before he could club a girl on the ground), they had the photographic proof.
The problem I had with the Weathermen was they decided they would be the ones who initiated violence, rather than wait to respond to attacks. By so doing, they became the embodiment of every lie told about the antiwar movement, made it easy for the American public that wasn’t in the streets - but had doubts about the war - to step back from the movement and believe J. Edgar Hoover’s lies. Their activities - as limited and ultimately completely unsuccessful as they were - made it harder for the rest of us to stop the war. Stopping the war was the point of that seven year struggle against the war.
It is unfair, but as was proven in the Civil Rights and Antiwar movements 60 years ago, we who protest America’s crimes are in the position of Caesar’s wife - we have to not only be virtuous, we have to be SEEN to be virtuous. As hard as it is, we have to be nonviolent. Violent protests against government overreach and authoritarianism have never been successful, but nonviolence has been successful every time it has been employed.
Yes, Alex Pretti had every right under the Second Amendment to carry his pistol wherever such carriage is allowed. It’s allowed at political demonstrations.
But today, the NRA and other gun rights organizations that were critical of Maladministration II when they justified their fatal violence, saying that Alex Pretti “brought it on himself” by bringing his gun to protest, those groups now look at this new video and drop their criticism. Our opportunity to connect with them over Maladministration II’s violations of out constitutional rights has been lost.
It’s not just the gun rights people. Many Americans - even those who are upset by what’s happened this past year - are unsure of just how bad, how evil, MAGA is.
Why did Alex Pretti feel the need to carry that pistol with him in these events? He never used it for self-defense - he never touched it after he stuck it in his waistband. The pistol was of no use to him. It was of great use to the people he righteously and honestly opposed.
As I said, I well understand his anger that led to that momentary dopamine rush of righteous anger when he kicked out the tail light. Had he acted as he did and not been armed, no one would be questioning anything. Bringing the useless gun for whatever his reason was has negated the truth of his opposition to these fascists, negated the power he gained in his death.
Yes, it’s unfair. Why do we have to be the ones who get vilified and beaten up and arrested, and the other side gets to get away with what they do? We have to be those people because by being those people, the other side doesn’t get to get away with they do. Would John Lewis have achieved his goal of voting rights if he had fought back against those who beat him nearly to death at the Edmund Pettus Bridge 60 years ago this spring? No matter how justified fighting back to save his life was?
We know the answer, whether we like it or not.
Nobody sane chooses to be a martyr. But it’s the martyrs who change history. I know this is hard, it’s been damn hard to personally face that possibility for the past 60 years as I have on too many occasions, but when it comes down to it - if we are really serious about what we are about - we are must act in such a way that even our unwished-for unsought death promotes our cause.
We have to have the courage to stand in the street facing a thug with a gun aimed in our face and say, “Do what you will.”
The greater the cause and the greater the goal, the greater the sacrifice that may be required.
As an historian, I have interviewed many men who fought in wars. Every one of them, at some point in the interview, said that there came a time in combat where they were forced to face their probable death. As one said, “After I did that and said ‘fuck it,’ everything I had to do was possible. It was easy.”
Most of the time, when that agent of the state with his gun in a protester’s face hears “Do as you will,” he doesn’t. And if he does, he’s the one who loses.
Alex Pretti has been a teacher of what one does in the face of evil. Today he taught us why we cannot do what he did, God love him.
In the Twelve Steps of the Hero’s Journeyb as outlined by Joseph Campbell, the last step is: “The Hero confronts his own death and in so doing discovers his own truth, which he then reveals in the world of men.”
You are not the crazy ones. These are truly the times that try men’s and women’s souls. This is the fight of our lifetimes, and the challenge of our generation.
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