Jeb Bladine: Minneapolis could become a flashback of history
Time will tell if the 2026 shootings of ICE protesters in Minneapolis will be a turning point for America.
Public response to the killings was deeper and more far-reaching than reactions to other Trump administration corruptions. Homicides of peaceful citizen protesters, on-screen for all to see, were flagrantly justified as defense against domestic terrorists, and en masse, Americans joined an emerging revolution.
Finally, the irresistible force of Trump’s executive powers struck an immovable object of citizen rebellion. People who previously were slow-boiling into oblivion began jumping from the pots; the sights and sounds and passion of that insurgence caused the president to back down and back off.
His political instincts were correct, but his disposition for crimes against democracy is unchanged. We can hope this reduction of MAGA heat to a temporary simmer does not attract frogs back into the water.
For me, it was a flashback week. We all have various vivid memories baked in our brains, and this week took me time-traveling to some of those scenes.
n A hallway outside the McMinnville High School gymnasium on Nov. 22, 1963, hearing reports of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination; cottage stairs at a former tuberculosis hospital in the New York Adirondacks on July 20, 1969, sky-watching during man’s first steps on the moon; an Army barracks at Ford Ord, Calif., on May 4, 1970, during the aftermath of the Kent State shootings; glued to Senate Watergate hearings on TV from May to November 1973 in a small house on S.E. 93rd Street in Portland, a site now in the middle of I-205 near Division Street.
n My last golf game as a bachelor, early morning on May 22, 1982, at Michelbook Country Club, followed immediately by start-up of a great new life – not all our memories have national impact!
n A meeting room at McMinnville Community Center on Jan. 17, 1991, waiting for a group of people who never arrived as we all experienced initial bombing of the Persian Gulf War; a meeting room in the Oregon State Capitol on Sept. 11, 2001, watching destruction of the World Trade Center and related 9/11 atrocities; an Alaska Airlines jet in mid-flight from Dallas to Portland on March 15, 2020, learning that the world I knew hours before in Texas was turned upside down by the COVID-19 epidemic.
For us all, those and other shared memories are spotlights in a flood of personal remembrances of our own childhoods and subsequent ages, family, friends, play, work, ambitions, challenges, failures and successes. As some memories fade with age, others stay in place for whatever reason they became embedded in the first place.
On Jan. 24, 2026, at least metaphorically, I was on the streets of Minneapolis, watching live, slow-motion and freeze-frame images of Alex Pretti being killed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents.
Perhaps, history will look back on Alex Pretti — and the equally disturbing Jan. 7 killing of Renee Good under similar circumstances — as harbingers of renewed national sanity in America.
Jeb Bladine can be reached at jbladine@newsregister.com or 503-687-1223.
Comments
Bigfootlives
Homicides of peaceful citizen protesters... is that the one that hit the federal agent with her car or the one that pushed his way in between the agent and another person? I don't expect an answer for this.
A better question. Why is Illegal Immigration the hill that all Democrats will die on? Politically speaking, no morbid pun intended.
You've been around a long time and seen this play out before. Which other riots did you see the mayor and/or governor tell citizens to attack, thereby enflaming the situation? In the 60's? The Watts riots? The Rodney King verdict?
Do you see the organization behind it all? The corruption? The boot camp for ICE resistance that got that young lady killed. Isn't it interesting that Minnesota riots flared up the week we found billions of $$ of fraud tied to the governor/mayor through hundreds of sham Somali businesses receiving federal tax dollars, and millions of dollars in cash being sent to Somalia every week. And we are finding these shell companies all over the country. Even in Oregon.
And the illegal immigrants in Minnesota are tied to illegal voting.
I ask you again. Why is illegal immigration the hill Democrats will die on?
This started when one party went crazy when the other began enforcing the law. Period, full stop. Guess which side needs to turn down the heat?
tagup
Classic Troll post....long on accusations, short on facts.
Jeb Bladine
There actually is plenty of historic support for opinions similar to Bigfoot's. My awareness of the Kent State shootings came from a National Guard basic trainee saying, "It's about time they started opening up on those people." At the time, about 60% of Americans agreed with that opinion. So no surprise that Watergate followed in a couple of years. By all means, let's blame the dead people, and shoot as many more as it takes to send a message that ICE is not to be challenged by dangerous protesters.
treefarmer
“…..BEGAN ENFORCINGTHE LAW…..” Oh that’s rich. (In another thread I wondered about “creative” justifications …… lo and behold, here they are.) With all due disrespect, I suggest another viewing of that horrific public execution in Minnesota to test the bizarre irrational assertion that ICE is “enforcing the law.” ICE is beyond lawless, killing and brutalizing people in plain sight, immunized and incited from the top. Obviously there are some who cannot overcome the propaganda and believe their own eyes. In addition, it could it be (as revealed above) that some eyes see quite clearly, relish the view, and will defend it at every opportunity - from under the bridge - loud and proud. Ain’t anonymity grand!
yamhillbilly2
Our very sorry master troll laments no one will answer! It does no good to answer with facts thar contradict it’s comments. There is never another response. Trolls do not appreciate having their ridiculous comment being shot down.