To the editor,

Minneapolis residents Renée Good and Alex Pretti were fatally shot by ICE and U.S. Border Patrol agents.  In response, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) posted on X:  

"Alex Pretti and Renée Good would be alive today if leaders like @GovTimWalz and @MayorFrey hadn’t encouraged them to go into harms way to harass and obstruct law enforcement."

Notably, a CNN frame-by-frame analysis shows that shots 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 were all fired while Alex Pretti lay incapacitated on his back.

George Orwell, author of the dystopian novel 1984, observed that "atrocities are believed in or disbelieved in solely on grounds of political predilection.  Everyone believes in the atrocities of the enemy and disbelieves in those of his own side, without ever bothering to examine the evidence."

I was reminded of that when watching the excellent 2025 documentary 2+2=5.  The film reviews Orwell's life and thought and applies his ideas to recent events like actions by the Trump administration, Gaza, immigration, the treatment of the Rohingya in Myanmar, etc.  I highly recommend it; his work is timeless.

It's crucial to acknowledge the highly selective memories of aggression that are so often used to justify state violence.

Terry Hansen
Grafton