If Federal Agents Can Kill an ICU Nurse, What Hope Do We Have?

News break, cold take, no time to think
Phone buzz, blood rush, my heart starts to sink
Blue lights, bold lights, headlines in ink
ICU nurse from the VA, now a goddamn link

Videos drop, and the angles clash
Officials talk loud while the news reels rehash
One story’s neat, the other looks trash
Two truths collide, as we brace for the crash

Fear’s in the room like a flashbang sting
Agents with badges and tactical bling
Parents on screens trying hard to cling
To a son they loved, not the spin that they sling

Scroll fast, whole past, ripped out the frame
Claimed “brandished weapon,” but the clips say they’re lame
Say “public safety,” but it still feels the same
Another of our healers, caught in their blame.

I’m not calm, I’m stunned, I’m pissed and I’m sore
My trust in receipts versus suits on the floor
If the law makes truth a private war
Then what do the facts even mean anymore?

Hell yeah, I’m scared, of the quiet part said
How they try to flip the script after someone’s dead
Turn a helper’s name into chalkboard dread
Rewrite the story in a sanitized thread

Anger rising up like a siren’s howl
Like a crowd full of rage at a midnight prowl
Like a flag on fire on a city trowel
Like a mother’s grief when the cameras foul

We want receipts, not spin-cycle lies
Not redacted notes in PR disguise
Not the “oops, our bad” after outrage dies
Not the hush, hush-hush when accountability cries

So here’s my vow as the smoke pours through
I’ll watch, I’ll read, I’ll refuse the skew
Won’t numb my heart to the things I view
Won’t let them tell me what pain is true

’Cause this feels wrong in my lungs and bones
In the cold-sweat scroll through our fragile phones
In the texts we send in our shaking tones
And the hollow ache when another one’s gone

#AlexPretti #Sad #Mad #Resist

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This post was previously published on medium.com.