‘Give a man a mask, and he will show you his true face.’ — Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
Editor-In-Chief, Chester “Trip” Buckenmaier III, MD, COL (ret.), MC, USA
I have been attempting to process one of our country’s recent tragedies. Pam and I can stay abreast of the news in America while exploring the Bahamas with satellite internet. The cold weather back home in Baltimore makes us grateful to be here, but the rest of the news is challenging to consume, to say the least. As I write this in the clear-water beauty of a tropical harbor, I cannot free myself of the heart-wrenching image of Alex Pretti, a VHA critical care nurse, being brutally beaten, then executed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) federal agents.
I have watched many videos of the encounter on social media and mainstream news sources. Apparently, according to the federal government, my lying eyes deceived me. Almost immediately following Pretti’s shooting, Kristi Noem, Homeland Security secretary, claimed Alex was “brandishing” a gun and he “attacked” federal officers. What I observed was Alex initially directing traffic away from the scene, followed by Alex trying to assist a woman who had been pushed to the ground by ICE agents. What follows is Alex being forced to the pavement by several masked ICE agents and the removal of a gun from Alex’s waist (that he was legally carrying). Seconds later came his execution by two ICE officers. There were 10 shots, many discharged into what appeared to be a lifeless body on the street.
My heart aches, and bile is rising in my throat as I write this description. Interestingly, the “agents” involved in this horror are almost uniformly wearing masks. During my childhood, only the villains wore masks.
I am no stranger to the brutality of world governments against their citizens. During my deployments, I treated teachers tortured for educating women, foreign citizens brutalized for helping Americans and limbless children whose only transgression was being in the way. I made a career attempting to ease the pain and suffering of too many civilians caught in the crossfire of lawless governments exercising reckless power. I sustained myself with the conviction that the United States was a government of laws designed to protect the freedoms and rights of individual citizens. The actions of the present administration have shattered that conviction in my view.
I was informed by the US Medicine editorial staff that Alex Pretti was a subscriber to this periodical. He was a critical-care nurse at the Minneapolis VA. Like the majority of those who toil in federal medicine, he was an altruistic individual investing his time in healing others. In short: Alex Pretti was one of us.
As the video record of events clearly shows, Pretti’s last acts on this Earth were not attacking federal officers; he was attempting to help a woman who had fallen during a protest. Protesting to redress grievances against our government, I will remind the reader, is a guaranteed right granted by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. I see myself in Alex Pretti, and I imagine many of my readers do, too.
The American experiment in democracy has never been perfect. Our history is replete with injustice, barbarism, racism and hateful acts justified by our government to protect our society. It was far easier in the past to hide the unpleasant reality of our collective history because these disgraceful activities were only recorded in the memories of the victims. Modern video and media have changed the equation. Brave individuals are recording, as is their right, the actions of our government. Mischaracterization of an event by a government official is far more challenging when the visual facts of the event are on full display, as recorded by the citizenry.
I believe U.S. institutions like federal medicine, steeped in a tradition of altruism toward our fellow humans (foreign or domestic), are more vital to the success of our democracy than ever before. We remain devoted to our patients’ interests even when that devotion seems questionable in the broader government. We dispense healthcare based on need, not party affiliation. When we wear masks, we do so to protect our patients, not to hide our identities while committing heinous acts. I concede that Customs and Border Protection is a vital function of our government, but recent activities by some ICE officials and agents go well beyond lawlessness. It is tough to trust any agency that officially claims one version of events that is so clearly inconsistent with the citizen-recorded images of the event available to every American.
By most accounts, Alex Pretti was one of our better citizens, worthy of respect and emulation. Regardless, what I observed happen to Alex (and to other Americans) with my own eyes cannot be acceptable for any citizen of the United States. Excuses for one’s indifference or idleness to the government’s injustice perpetrated against a neighbor only serve to weaken our republic.
As for the masked agents perpetrating these atrocities, well, it never ended well for the masked villains from my childhood. Alex was robbed of his right to due process and his life. If these actions of our government go unchallenged, then we are collectively complicit in the failure of the American experiment in democracy. It is our civic duty to demand accountability from our government institutions.