By Johnny Zokovitch
The voice in my head is tinged with a note of scorn. I find myself, like many, flattened and stunned by the killing of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis earlier this week, gunned down by an ICE agent. I’m shocked as I stare at the footage of her attempting to drive away and the shots being fired. Yet the voice in my head is judgmental about my shock. The voice asks, “Why are you shocked? You should have known that this was bound to happen.”
>>Read Pax Christi USA’s statement on the killing of Renee Good by ICE
Little surprises me about this administration’s ability to demean and dehumanize, and the horrific consequences that result from such dehumanization. The vicious execution of a protestor or bystander by an ICE agent was utterly predictable. The repression that has been unleashed, and the tactics employed, made such a scenario more likely than not.
We have witnessed time and time again cruelty and brutality that should shock us. Immigrants kidnapped off the streets by masked men with guns. Protesters seeking to protect their neighbors being beaten and tear-gassed. Children traumatized by being abruptly awakened in the middle of the night by raids that disappear their fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers. Each and every one of these unconscionable acts should leave us stunned, floored with disbelief that such inhumanity not only happens but is then excused, defended and applauded by the current administration.
The first Trump administration just gave us a hint of the president’s penchant for chaos and confusion, obfuscation and uncertainty. The actions of past administrations – even when manufactured and disingenuous – usually had given us the time and space to mount campaigns and mobilize people to address the looming threat, be that threat a march toward war or the implementation of a domestic agenda that sacrificed those who are poor for the benefit of those who are wealthy. Even tragedies like mass shootings – while steeped in bad public policy and elected officials’ indifference – were given space to be mourned, discussed, and processed. But during the first Trump presidency, I remember going to sleep each night dreading what new episode of barbarity I would wake to the next day.
That first term was difficult enough, but the current one is that on steroids.
Part of the strategy of the Trump administration is to bombard us with atrocity after atrocity so that we find ourselves stuck in our grief, immobilized by the sheer overwhelming savagery of it all. Mired in our distress, never given the time or space to fully recover, we are stunted in our efforts to organize and respond to the latest act of cruelty because another one has already been committed. It is a relentless campaign designed to overwhelm our capacity for compassion, “to suffer with.” It short-circuits the emotional neurons that ignite our empathy, undercutting our disbelief and leaving us all too often numb or incapable of being shocked.
But shock seems to be what we need right now. Shock that causes us to dig in and cry out, “No more!” And the evidence that I see in our collective response whether on social media or in interactions with friends and colleagues seems to bear out that this killing might be the match that reignites our ability to be shocked.
Johnny Zokovitch is the former executive director of Pax Christi USA. He currently serves on the board of the Pax Christi International Fund for Peace and is in pastoral leadership at St. Cronan Catholic Church in St. Louis.
Thank you. 🙏🙏 Peace be with you.
As usual Johnny you hit the proverbial nail on the head with eloquence and insight. I take issue with only one point. We need to be careful not to only assign blame to “the Administration”. That is an easy way out. The Administration and all those in Congress who enable and encourage were voted into office by the American people – and that was after the previous Trump term and Jan. 6th . What hopes and beliefs motivated every pull of the lever in the voting booth or mark on the ballot is the real culprit. Even more frightening is the significant percentage of voters who championed this “Administration” into power recite the Beatitudes with great piety. We need more than shock at their actions – we need to be shocked by our own.
Thank you, Johnny, for giving voice to the sentiments of so many of us. Yes, we should have known… but now, how do we demonstrate solidarity? What risks are we willing to take? Let’s pray for guidance from the Salvadoran martyrs and other martyrs for Justice in our times.
Bishop John Stowe, OFM Conv