I Got Shot Again

I got shot AGAIN

January 25, 2026. 47th President day 369. This keeps being relevant. I don't usually repeat myself but I need to keep bearing witness.

I wrote this a while ago as a lament for the numerous black men and women gunned down by police officers while going about their daily lives. Today, with the rest of the country, I once again mourn the loss of children I did not know but whose deaths echo across the land along with their too many departed siblings. Once again we are told by those who call themselves our leaders to send thoughts and prayers, but let's not politicize this horrific tragedy by making it about gun legislation. What a load of crap! This is political. How we order our lives and live as communities is the essence of politics. And we are failing. The families and friends of people killed at a  church in Minnesota don't care if you are democrat or republican. Your thoughts and prayers sound good but they're not going to fill the holes in the hearts of a community devestated by violent uncessary deaths. And the same is true for when it happens the next time, and the next, and the time after that. So yes, make this political as hell. Take action. Tell your elected and appointed officials that it's time to shit or get off the pot, and out of office. God has heard our prayers and comforts those who mourn. When will they?

I know it's still early but today, I got shot. Yesterday, I got shot. My history and experience tells me that tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow I'll get shot. I stopped, I got shot. I reached for requested documentation, I got shot. I had my cell phone in my hand, I got shot. I had a legal weapon and said so, I got shot. I ran in fear, I got shot. I was 12 years old playing alone in a park, I got shot. I was driving an old car that backfired, I got shot. I was asleep in my bed, I got shot. I was relaxing, alone in my home, I got shot. A neighbor was concerned about me, called for help, I got shot. I committed a non-violent low level felony with no indication of a weapon, I didn't get shot. I got suffocated. I carried a sign saying stop shooting me. I got shot.

White men kill police officers or parade participants or church goers or protesters and get their day in court and maybe even lunch, or a glass of water and a thank you, for good measure. I get handcuffed while dying in the street. The rivers are becoming salty from my tears. But it's okay, because it's my fault. I got shot.

I was six years old, I got shot. I went to the grocery store or the movies, I got shot. I went to church or temple or synagogue. Surely those are safe places. But I got shot. We had an active shooter drill in school today and I got shot. I was sitting in a college classroom and I got shot. Again. I was having fun with friends in a night club. I got shot. Elected officials say "Let's not make this tragedy political by talking about gun legislation and they get shot. 

Why? Who did I hurt or offend? I hear that the officials are sending thoughts and prayers. That's nice of them but there's an empty place at the dinner table tonight, because I got shot. 

I was exercising my first amendment right to protest what I saw as injustice. I got shot. I was exercising my second amendment right to carry a firearm, I got shot. (No, my name is not Philando Castile THIS TIME). I've seen some people saying that this is unprecedented. It's not. You're only at the beginning of the lament. Pay attention. I can teach you the words. I've known them forever.

 

Tell Me Again

Do me a favor.

Go on Instagram or YouTube or TikTok. Even better find your own source of real experiences of real people who have had encounters with ICE.

Watch and listen to stories of ICE enforcement that have not been filtered through what passes for Kristie Noem's brain.

Find and listen to actual stories.

Go to courthouses, schools, grocery stores, restaurants, churches, jobs. All of the places where people are living their lives and minding their own business. 

Watch and hear how people not committing violence are accosted by unknown, unidentified masked men committing violence against them and being told to just comply.

Watch footage of how law enforcement detains other people who are accused of being violent criminals. If the alleged perpetrators are not actually in the act of committing a violent crime at the time of their apprenhension how are they approached and detained.

Compare and contrast. (That's for you academics out there).

Go and see. Bear witness. 

Stoop to look an elementary age child in the eye and explain to them that this fear and pain they are experiencing is their mami's or papi's fault. Better yet explain their own guilt to them and tell them to stop screaming and crying and just comply.

Go to a detention center and ask to see people being held there. Go alone, I dare you. After all ICE is only doing their jobs. If you are denied entry ask them why. Unless asking a question is suddenly against the law and somebody forgot to tell me about it.

One of the most frequent arguments I hear when talking about ICE enforcement is that Obama deported more people than Trump. Let me be clear. I was not a fan of the Obama administration's immigration policy. But show me where his administration used masked goons with body armor, military gear and tanks. Show me where they deliberately went to places where people were just living their lives, targeted people already going through a legally established process and left maximum carnage in their wake. There were protests against Obama's immigration policies. Show me where the response to those protests was federal troops being dispatched to cities and states despite objections by duly elected mayors and governors.

 Tell me again why ICE tactics under the current regime are okay or necessary.

Tell me again why parents following a legally mandated process are at fault for their children's trauma.

Tell me again how if they weren't criminals this wouldn't be happening to them and their children. And be sure to show me what actual crime they have committed other than existing in their skin.

Tell me again why it's okay for US citizens to be stopped by masked people in military tactical gear and roughed up or even detained just because they are speaking a language other than English or speaking with an "accent". And remind me again when an accent or a different language became probable cause for being stopped or evidence of a crime.

Tell me again why it's not as bad as I think because it's only been a few actual citizens and mistakes happen. And then tell me how many "mistakes" are finally too many.

Maybe if you say it often enough and loudly enough, I'll forget that these are vulnerable human beings worthy of dignity and respect and start to believe you.

So go ahead Tell Me Again.