Bullet Holes Over Human Lives
📰 THE STORY: The Independent reports on the sworn declaration of Dr. Alex Pretti, who witnessed federal agents in Minneapolis counting bullet holes on a protester who had been shot multiple times, instead of administering CPR. Pretti states that agents claimed they didn't know if the victim had a pulse, highlighting a profound dereliction of duty. 🔍 WHAT THEY'RE NOT TELLING YOU: Historical
Context: This incident echoes a systemic pattern within US law enforcement, where civil rights protesters and marginalized communities have historically faced brutality, often with impunity. From the 1968 Orangeburg Massacre, where state troopers killed three Black students, to the 1970 Kent State shootings, where National Guardsmen killed four unarmed students, state violence against protesters
is deeply embedded. The killing of Fred Hampton by Chicago police in 1969, and the MOVE bombing in Philadelphia in 1985 (where police dropped a bomb on a residential block, killing 11 people including children), further illustrate this history of state forces prioritizing suppression and control over the well-being and rights of those they deem adversaries. Double Standard: Imagine similar reports
from a nation deemed 'authoritarian' by Western media – say, Venezuela or China. The headlines would scream 'dictatorship's barbarity' and 'human rights abuses,' leading to immediate calls for sanctions or intervention. Yet, when US federal agents are credibly accused of standing by while a wounded protester bleeds, the framing in mainstream media often softens, focusing on individual 'incidents'