Senator Gaston: A Nation That Grows Accustomed To State Violence Is Not Safe

Analysis and Comment7 Comments

From State Senator Herron Gaston:

How many more before we wake up?

Twice now, in Minnesota, ICE has taken a civilian life. Two people are dead. Two families shattered. Two moments that should have stopped the nation cold—and yet, the machinery of normalcy grinds on.

This is how democracies fail: not with tanks in the streets, but with repetition. With the quiet acceptance of the unacceptable. With official statements replacing grief, and procedure standing in for justice. With a people slowly trained to believe that state violence is unfortunate, but inevitable.

It is not.

Every time the government kills a civilian, something sacred is lost—not only a life, but a promise. The promise that power exists to protect, not dominate. The promise that dignity is not conditional. The promise that democracy means more than words recited while blood dries on the pavement.

What should terrify us is not only the act itself, but our response to it. How quickly outrage fades. How easily the dead become statistics. How often silence is mistaken for prudence. In moments like these, passivity is not peace—it is permission.

America’s children are watching. They are learning what their country values by what it tolerates. They are absorbing the lesson that some lives are expendable, that authority answers only to itself, that justice is negotiable. This is not the inheritance any nation should pass on.

History is unforgiving to societies that normalize cruelty. It records, with brutal clarity, the moments when people could have acted, and did not. Long after official narratives collapse, what remains is a single question: Did they speak when it mattered, or did they sit passively by?

People of goodwill must act now. Not out of rage, but out of love and human decency—for life, for democracy, for the fragile moral core that still binds us together. Action does not require violence or hatred; it requires courage, solidarity, and the refusal to accept that this is simply “the way things are.”

Two deaths are already too many. If this does not move us—if this does not awaken our collective conscience, then the tragedy is not only what has happened in Minnesota, but what we are becoming, and what inevitably may hit our doorsteps soon.

A nation that grows accustomed to state violence is not safe.
A democracy that cannot defend human dignity is not free.
And a people who remain silent in the face of injustice will one day find there is no one left to speak for them.

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7 comments

  1. One week ago, I spoke to the City Council about “the way things are” from my viewpoint. It was written before the death count of Minneapolis citizens pursuing oversight of an invading force not subject to their “voter power” or normal to their life experience, rose to two lives, a woman and a man.
    I call your attention to Fruta Cafe on the last Saturday of January at 9 AM for another session of Casual Civics Conversations. One hour, no agenda, questions, respectful comments, and listening about urban matters is an outline of the growing number of CONVERSATION hosts. Speak up! Listen well to neighbors!!

    CC Comments January 20, 2026
    Thomas Jefferson wrote and spoke more than a few words which are often quoted in contemporary conversations. A sentence worth of wisdom from him was revealed with a quote in David McCullough’s HISTORY MATTERS: “Any nation that expects to be ignorant and free expects what never was and never will be.”
    Civics is the study of citizen rights and responsibilities, duties, and obligations. When we demand “our rights” and fail to practice the activities of duty personally and regularly, why are we surprised as the assault on representative democracy continues?
    The public archives show that I have encouraged Council persons to participate in Casual Civics Conversations within their districts at a comfortable and convenient location. I have created ‘welcoming posters,’ approved by property managers, and have received approval at multiple locations within the City for monthly sessions. During the past year only two Council members have participated in such one-hour conversations. No expense to participants. It is a free use of space for peaceable gatherings. Just listening and reflection, and likely some learning to ultimately increase City voting results?? Who is impressed when perhaps as few as 10% of registered voters decide upon officials, and questions like our foundational Charter revision last November? Where is an opportunity for constituents to share knowledge and opinion with you in hearings on subject matter like public safety drones, before you convene to discuss and vote? How do you regard public comments?
    Will you reach out to me, tell me about your thoughts on Casual Civics Conversations within your District? It is an informal practice, in a City where people look to be heard, but often are uninformed in process or detail. Is that purposeful, as it has failed to keep Boards and Commissions fully staffed with interested citizens serving unexpired terms, and not subject to conflicts of interest? If 30% of registered voters are listed as UNAFFILIATED, not party affiliated, what message is the City sending to them as to Board vacancies? Where is a listing of priority Council purposes in the coming year or two? How will you improve “Ask the Council” podcast program? Time will tell.

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  2. Why does a Trump endorsement enter into her commentary on her campaign?

    Well, when doesn’t a sitting President’s endorsement enter into an Goverors elections?
    To be fair, Trump has a thing for blonds. Though who knows Trump, really. I don’t even want to think about what he did “to” Putin for a loan. To say the least. 🤣

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_Gf0mGJfP8

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  3. What has Trump done to advance citizen rights and responsibilities for the citizens of CT?

    Trying to keep “regulation and oversight of illegal immigrants from ” invading the traditional Black American communities, decreasing their economic and political position.

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  6. John, BTW, this is all American political bullshit. I hope you bring that up at your next Civics discussion. That Mayor, who said “ICE get the fuck out of Minnesota,” Bullshit, All political rhetoric regarding ICE. All the ICE OUT protest is bullshit. These two deaths, Renee and Alex, are not even martyrs. They’re chum. Even this piece on democracy is disingenuous bullshit.
    https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2338499639955134

    Question man. Do you know why I say that? Because nowhere is comprehensive immigration reform being uttered. Frey? Do you not think comprehensive immigration reform is required? Chris, Himes, what say you? Do you think comprehensive immigration reform is required? Disingenuous/protester for ICE OUT or defund Homeland Security supporter. Do you think comprehensive immigration from legisation is required?

    Here’s a question: Why is comprehensive immigration nowhere to be seen or heard, even as citizens are dying in the streets in this crooked game called American politics?

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/archive-footage-bush-addresses-the-nation-on-immigration-reform/2019/01/08/c7228204-06f2-4edd-8382-51e9ecb36e93_video.html

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