- Details
- By Levi Rickert
Reporters Notebook: MINNEAPOLIS — Nicollet Avenue in South Minneapolis was lit with trees trimmed in clear lights on Sunday afternoon. In ordinary times, people from all over the Twin Cities come to eat in the restaurants because the avenue is famously known as “Eat Street.”
Yesterday, a crowd gathered for a very different reason. They came to pay tribute to Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old VA intensive care nurse who was fatally shot by federal agents on Jan. 24 during an immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis. Pretti’s death has sparked widespread outrage, protests and a federal civil rights investigation.
Nearby where the shooting took place stands Christos Greek Restaurant. Across the street is Glam Doll Donuts, and less than a block away is the Black Forest Inn. Ironically enough, the area is known for its diverse restaurants opened by immigrants.
Pretti was killed directly in front of the New American Development Center, whose signage reads: HELPING COMMUNITY THRIVE.
A growing makeshift memorial spills into the avenue — hundreds of bouquets of flowers, some now weighed down by snow, and dozens of candles burning among handmade signs honoring Pretti.
One sign read: Nurses for Justice and Peace.
Another sign read: Never Forget with a red heart.
At the center of the tribute is a banner that reads, “Rest in Power Alex: Any Righteous Person Would Have Done the Same.”
One image at the memorial that captured my eye is a black-and-white Holocaust photograph covered in clear plastic known as The Last Jew in Vinnitsa, showing a Nazi gunman executing a man beside a pit of bodies — a stark reminder of the pain, loss and questions of justice raised by Pretti’s death.
As I stood there, a woman placed a bouquet of red tulips just below the photo.
She was one of dozens that turned in hundreds of people who came Sunday afternoon, braving 20-degree temperatures, to leave items or simply stand in silence — some with tears streaming down their faces.
As I stood there, I thought: This is our America.
George McCauley, an Omaha tribal elder, brought me to the memorial directly from the airport. As he picked me up, he told me I had missed a jingle dress dancing ceremony that took place at the site before he left to get me. I missed the ceremony because my flight from Michigan arrived late.
McCauley told me that this is what our people do as part of the healing process. The first people seek healing for America.
Editor's Note: All photos by Levi Rickert for. Native News Online.
https://nativenewsonline.net/currents/this-is-our-america-mourning-memory-and-healing-on-minneapolis-eat-street#sigProIdf45dde2d61
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