Devin Strong, Spirit of Peace Lutheran Church

I didn’t expect to be writing an article about a second American citizen killed by federal agents in Minneapolis in as many weeks. This is a time filled with tension and grief, distrust and anxiety, not just in Minnesota but across the country. People are struggling to understand what is happening, what is just, and what should happen next. Christians are surely among them.

There are things about which reasonable people can disagree. With the killing of the first citizen, Renee Nicole Good, on January 7th, I believe that I saw in the video the wheels of her vehicle turning away from the officer as she is attempting to leave, but you may have sympathy for Agent Ross and think that he reasonably feared for his life.

I also believe that it would be good for the country if people who arrived here illegally but have been otherwise law-abiding for years be offered a pathway to citizenship, but you may believe that once illegal, always illegal. That’s okay.

These are complicated issues, and serious people can hold diverse opinions.

It would seem that with the killing of the second citizen, Alex Pretti, on January 24th, there is less room for disagreement. Yes, he was carrying a handgun, something that I choose not to do, and yes, he was protesting loudly, and perhaps unkindly, as he filmed federal agents, but I have seen no evidence thus far that he behaved violently or was any threat to officers. Indeed, an agent can be seen handing off Alex’s gun to another agent before agents shoot him as many as ten times. Unfortunately, there is also a diffusion of responsibility in this second shooting that was not present in the first, since approximately six agents can be seen punching and kicking Alex before he is killed.

As a sinner and a Christian, one thing that I know about power is that any excess of it is a likely arena for sin. This is true whether the power is held by those on the Left or the Right, whether it is held by individual billionaires or multi-national corporations, whether it is wielded by governments or labor unions.

Power is always a temptation to abuse. For my money, the greatest justice in society happens when power is held by several competing entities who hold each other in check.

It seems that what we are facing now is too much power held in the hands of too few.

A second thing that I know about power is that the right use of it is cautious, merciful, and most often exercised on behalf of the vulnerable. I am concerned with the explosion of budgets and the numbers of personnel in ICE and Homeland Security so that these agencies dwarf other law enforcement agencies. I am concerned about racial profiling and the targeting of whole neighborhoods. I am concerned about masked agents and the lack of body cameras. I am concerned about small children being taken into custody. I can’t help but think about Jesus who came to Earth with all the power of God and yet chose to wash feet and be crucified for the sins of the world.

Who do we want to be as a nation, and if we are heading in the wrong direction, how will each one of us use our God-given power to change things?