regular posts
At Lexington Alarm we have a theory of resistance. When people have courage to take small actions they generate a response. No action is too small or insignificant not to count. Sometimes the responses strengthen the resistance in surprising ways. This creates a snowball effect, and the resistance to abuses and attacks on our constitutional rights grows stronger.
We have two really important examples from the past two weeks.
At Lexington Alarm we have a theory of resistance. When people have courage to take small actions they generate a response. No action is too small or insignificant not to count. Sometimes the responses strengthen the resistance in surprising ways. This creates a snowball effect, and the resistance to abuses and attacks on our constitutional rights grows stronger.
We have two really important examples from the past two weeks.
By focusing so much on Trump, we have allowed all those who make his atrocities possible to escape responsibility. Here are some tips for focused, stronger messaging to hold Republican enablers accountable as we approach the midterms.
The weekly Bearing Witness protests at ICE headquarters on District Avenue have become a regional center of peaceful resistance, drawing 700–900 participants each week. Organized by a broad interfaith coalition, the demonstrations elevate the voices of those harmed by ICE while reaffirming a commitment to nonviolence. That very commitment has triggered escalating efforts to suppress the protests: parking bans, intimidation, and towing by powerful real estate interests and complicit local authorities. As businesses and police “bend the knee” to protect ICE, Bearing Witness remains resolute. Peaceful assembly is not a threat—it is a constitutional right, and it will continue to grow. See our Letter to National Development
Alex Pretti, a 37 year old nurse known by neighbors as an amiable man in his neighborhood was murdered by federal ICE agents today in Minneapolis.
Alex was not the target of any investigation. He was using his iphone to film the violent threats of ICE agents in the street, and he was talking to another woman filming the scene. ICE agents approached him and the woman, wrestled him to the ground, and after he had been subdued one agent took out a gun and fired up to ten shots killing him. His last words, to the woman who was pinned to the ground near him as they were pepper sprayed, were “all you alright?”
We are at war. No sense mincing words. Until we tear the present DHS agency down to the ground and start with a new structure, no one in America is safe.
Lexington Alarm! has completed a research project on how Hanscom field was developed as an airport for small regional airplanes only, and how the use of large planes there by ICE may be illegal under Massachusetts laws and regulations. Use of Hanscom by commercial air service is limited to airplanes with 60 seats or less, and the ICE charters are clearly in violation of this.
The parallels are striking and undeniable. An unpopular, external military force shoots and kills protesters haranguing the officers, demanding they leave. Snowballs are thrown.
When Hanscom Airfield was first taken over by Massport, there was immense community opposition in Lexington, Concord, and surrounding towns because people did not want a major second Boston airport, as the infrastructure to support it was non-existent and it also would have changed the character of the Minuteman National Park, nearly an abutter.
The result was a compromise for a small regional airfield, where jets of more than 60 seats would not be allowed. This agreement, limiting commercial airlines to 60 seats, was codified into law in the act enabling Massport to acquire the airport in 1980. The FAA sued, saying that FAA rules preempted local airport authorities from restricting operations in this way. Massachusetts won.
An ICE agent in Minneapolis today shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, a 37 year old mother of a six-year old, who lived with her partner in Minneapolis. Renee was a legal observer, and based on videos she stopped her car when other Ice vehicles blocked the street. Than another ICE vehicle, a truck with flashing lights, came up behind her car and Ice officers swarmed out, tried to open her door, terrified her, and as she was trying to leave, one of them pulled a gun and shot her in the face multiple times, killing her. Her wife was left sobbing on the sidewalk.
Lexington Alarm will have a table at the activator’s fair, sponsored by the Lexington Human Rights Commission, as part of the town’s activities to honor Dr. Martin Luther King. The activator fair is a way to connect people with activist organizations who are working for social justice.
