By Ronn Easton
In 1969, I took an oath to defend my country from all enemies, foreign or domestic. I put on our country’s uniform and deployed to Vietnam, and when I came home, I dealt with the scars—seen and unseen—for years. And right now, in my home state of Minnesota, my oath has never been more important.
Earlier this week, ICE shot and killed Renee Nicole Good. I’ve watched the video, over and over and over again. Each viewing is more devastating than the last. Seeing her child’s stuffed animals in the glovebox was the last straw. I knew I couldn’t be silent.
This week, I was driving to get food when I saw a gathering of protestors confronting ICE at The Whipple Building here in Minneapolis. Something in me told me to turn right and join them.
So I did. And I had some choice words for the ICE agents terrorizing my city.
Our police chief, Brian O’Hara, perfectly predicted that this was going to happen. When first asked about ICE descending on our city, he said: “I am afraid that we could have a tragedy happen over this stuff, and then have a situation dramatically escalate … This has caused a lot of instability in the city.”
That instability he talks about has rippled through our community—not only are they killing us, but they’re killing businesses that have been here for generations. They’re tearing apart the very foundation of our city and culture, and supplanting it with one of fear and chaos.
And that is exactly what the administration wants. They want to divide us. They want us to be silent. They want us to be too afraid to speak up. They want us to shut up and go away.
That’s why something in me told me to join the protestors that day. Because I know ICE and the administration only win when we are silent, and I am not going to let them get away with it.
If ICE had never come to our city, Renee Nicole Good would be waking up today. Her child would be able to play with the stuffed animals from the glovebox. But because Trump sent ICE to Minneapolis, none of that is going to happen.
I’m proud to have fought and bled for my country, to have defended the rights and freedoms of Americans. In my eyes, the oath you take when you join our military never expires. And standing up against this tyrannical administration, speaking out on behalf of all veterans and Minnesotans, and fighting for what is right is exactly what my oath means to me.
Ronn Easton is a Vietnam veteran who lives in Minneapolis, MN. He is a participant in Home of the Brave, an initiative dedicated to exposing this administration’s corruption, cruelty, and lawlessness.
