People with good hearts have stayed in the background. They’ve tried to distance themselves from the political chaos, because, I reckon, they felt the chaos in America would resolve itself.
They were wrong.
Our democracy is in disarray, and men with the loudest megaphones and the most money are steering it toward fascism or whatever horrific governance they want to replace our democracy with.
Yet those good people with their good hearts have kept silent—silent till an act so hellish forced them from hiding behind their good hearts. That act occurred in Minneapolis a few days ago, and it knocked a white man I know out of his alternate reality. The killing of a male nurse prodded him to say something, so he did it on Facebook:
They say don’t get political. They say there are two sides to every story. But staying silent when outraged was never my style. The shooting of a 37-year-old ICU nurse after he tried to help another health care worker who ICE shoved to the ground pisses me off beyond words. He didn’t attack. His gun was in his holster until ICE idiots took it. Then they shot and killed him. The video is everywhere. If it doesn’t piss you off, I don’t know what will.
I share his outrage. I’ve expressed mine openly whenever I can. I’ve talked about it with strangers I’ve met on my travels abroad; I’ve talked about it with friends—Black, white and Hispanic—until they’ve gotten tired of me.
I don’t care how they felt; I care as much for this America as I do for my friendships. So, I can’t watch it unravel at the seams, stitch after stitch, and not say something. Not remind others that, despite its sordid past, America has offered more to the world than I think any of us will acknowledge.
The United States has never been anything but a flawed democracy. Its leaders have paid more attention to the haves than to have-nots. Its leaders have let the haves have outsized influence, and the haves have used that influence to build extraordinary wealth.
In 2026, they’re richer than they’ve ever been in the history of this democracy. Yet that’s still not enough.
I’m sick of hearing people praise the haves for their contributions to charities, to private schools and to nonprofit foundations. I’ve openly shared my displeasure at how their money has shaped too much of what America is today.
It’s a duopoly. It’s less Black and white these days. It’s more haves vs. have-nots.
Whoever the have-nots are, they can’t go deaf to the din that surrounds them. They have little choice but to be political, for if they aren’t, they’re giving license to the haves to continue to do what they’ve been doing.
Is this the America the people who shun politics, the people who stay silent about it want to see? Do they accept an America that’s separate and unequal? Are they fronts for people who use lies and their billions to take America in a direction it ought not go?
Well, they must be. That’s the only explanation I can offer for the silence of good people about what’s unfolding in front of them. Does it take another senseless killing to reset their America?
Perhaps it does.
