Craig Wilson is the editor of the Hill & Lake Press. He lives in Lowry Hill.
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The ICE invasion of Minneapolis proves that American society is living through a moment when shared truth has collapsed.
Events in our city are largely unifying us because we have witnessed them firsthand or trust those who have.
But people elsewhere are interpreting the same footage through ideological filters that create wildly different realities.
That fracture has been widening since the killing of Renee Nicole Good.
And now, with the death of Alex Jeffrey Pretti, who was beaten and shot by federal agents in broad daylight in front of multiple witnesses, the distance between what Minneapolis residents see and what the nation is being told has become impossible to ignore.
Bearing Witness
Earlier this month, before Pretti’s death, I experienced this divide in an unexpected place: the gym.
In mid-January, I saw ICE agents detaining several people outside my gym at Blaisdell Avenue South and 28th Street, in Whittier. It was about 1:45 p.m. Protesters gathered immediately.
Whistles, horns and shouts filled the block. Phones were raised in every direction. Like most people around me, I filmed what I saw.
As the scene cleared, the man next to me said something that shocked me. Because of the constant flow of propaganda online, he believed the clips of masked agents circulating on social media were “AI” and not real. Seeing it in person changed his mind, he said.
But even before the killings of Good and Pretti, the collapse of a shared sense of reality was already underway.
Federal Abuse Prompts a Community to Push Back
Minneapolis residents have been living with this for weeks; indeed Operation Metro Surge would be better titled “Operation Metro Siege.”
ICE agents have appeared throughout the Hill & Lake community, from Bryn Mawr to Linden Hills, and at places as ordinary as Yum!, Kowalski’s and Wrecktangle Pizza. This lurking federal presence stretches into western Wisconsin, Red Wing, St. Cloud, Mankato and beyond.
So does the resilience. Neighbors are stepping outside, filming, supporting one another and refusing to look away.
Yet nationally we are watching the same videos, reading the same statements and reaching radically different conclusions. That divide is not accidental. It reflects a broader shift in how authority, truth and belonging function in American life.
The Extrajudicial Killing of Alex Pretti
Nothing illustrates this more clearly than the killing of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old Minneapolis ICU nurse and VA researcher.
Unlike the footage of the killing of Renee Good, that some think is more ambiguous, the videos documenting Pretti’s death are stark and direct.
The operation that masked federal agents were undertaking was at a Glam Doll Donuts on the east side of Nicollet Avenue.
“Once people adopt a narrative, they often adopt the community that goes with it, and vice versa. Even clear video evidence can be interpreted in opposite ways when viewing it one way threatens your place in community.”
According to CNN, Nilson Barahona, another witness, said that he was at Glam Doll Donuts when someone fleeing federal agents ran into the restaurant.
The donut shop staff quickly locked the doors, and when agents couldn’t get inside, they turned their attention to “those who were outside, who had come to help,” Barahona said.
Agents left the scene of their operation, crossed the street and attacked — ultimately killing — Alex Pretti.
The images show a masked agent shoving a woman into a snowbank after spraying her with a chemical agent, after which Pretti moved toward her to help.
Several agents then swarmed him, forcing him face down on an icy street as they punched and struck him.
During the struggle, an agent removed Pretti’s legally carried handgun from his person. He held a valid permit and never had the weapon in his hand.
Moments later, while Pretti remained face down on the icy street, agents fired multiple shots into his back.
One agent can be seen nearby clapping as the shooting ends. They then handcuffed his lifeless body.
Yet the Trump administration insists, without evidence, that Pretti was an “assassin.” Stephen Miller pushed that narrative immediately. JD Vance reposted it.
Trump published a photo of Pretti’s legally owned firearm and essentially declared the case closed.
Truth Versus “truth”
Capital “T” Truth, meaning what actually happened, is visible on video and supported by personal accounts from multiple witnesses.
But the administration’s version of “truth” is something else entirely. It is a manufactured narrative held together by lies, repetition, intimidation and propaganda, all funded by tax dollars.
The Guardian recently documented how federal channels circulated doctored images of Minneapolis civil rights leader Nekima Levy Armstrong to discredit her and undermine local resistance.
The original photograph shows her calm, composed and professional. The altered version darkened her skin tone, distorted her features and recast her expression to suggest instability. The intent was clear: portray a well-known Black leader as erratic.
When those in power control both the megaphone and the editing tools, reality itself becomes contested terrain.
How We Interpret What We See
To make sense of this moment, I return to what I studied in college: cultural studies and comparative literature.
The program required three core classes: (1) Text and Context, (2) Discourse and Society, and (3) Knowledge Persuasion and Power.
“Text and Context” teaches that no one is a neutral viewer. Each of us brings our full history, including our joys, fears, experiences, values and ideology, to every “text.”
Today the texts are videos, body-camera recordings, official statements and social media posts. The context is not the footage. The context is us.
This helps explain why the deaths of Good and Pretti are being interpreted so differently. The capital “T” Truth is that both were shot by federal agents.
The lowercase “t” truth, which is the meaning people attach to the events, depends on their worldview, their media sources and their need for belonging.
Narratives are how people make sense of the world. They tell us who the heroes are, who the threats are, and where we fit in.
“The unaltered videos do not lie. People do.”
They also signal which group or community we identify with, and that sense of identity shapes what feels believable or even possible.
Once people adopt a narrative, they often adopt the community that goes with it, and vice versa.
Even clear video evidence can be interpreted in opposite ways when viewing it one way threatens your place in community.
One Country. Two Epistemologies.
For many in Minneapolis, the footage reflects abuses of power and a collapse of professional control. For many outside Minnesota, the same footage is framed as “lawlessness” or “domestic terrorism.”
Yet on the ground in Minneapolis, the reaction has not fractured. It has unified. Demonstrations have been peaceful and grounded in mutual care.
Neighbors are organizing vigils and mutual aid. Faith leaders, small businesses and residents across political differences are stepping forward.
Minneapolis is not splitting apart. Minneapolis is locking arms.
Why Belief Systems Matter
“Discourse and Society” teaches that discourse is the system of ideas, language and shared assumptions that shape how people understand the world.
These belief systems offer belonging. For many on the right, that sense of belonging is tied to loyalty to Trump and a focus on “law and order.”
For many on the left, it is tied to defending democracy, civil liberties and vulnerable people. Algorithms deepen these divides until it can feel as if we are living in different universes.
“Knowledge, Persuasion and Power” teaches that this divide is cultivated, not accidental. Hegemony, which is the dominance of one group’s values and narratives over others, works by making certain ideas feel natural or inevitable. It decides which stories count and which ones are dismissed.
I name my own bias as an independent liberal, meaning someone who values new ideas, civil liberties, democratic institutions, freedom of speech and debate.
Conservative traditions emphasize continuity, skepticism toward rapid change, private enterprise and long-held norms.
Both can offer insight, but only one is currently being weaponized from the top down to distort evidence and justify violence.
Minneapolis Knows How to Stand Together
People are exhausted. Some are losing relationships over disagreements about what should be obvious. These fractures are everywhere.
And yet Minneapolis has lived through this before. The murder of George Floyd reshaped not only our city but the world.
“Minneapolis is not splitting apart. Minneapolis is locking arms.”
This moment stirs a familiar mix of fear, grief and uncertainty, but the way Minneapolis is responding now is different.
The unity, discipline and mutual care show a community tempered by trauma rather than broken by it.
Federal officials misread this unity as disorder. They do not understand that we have already been through fire and emerged not unscarred but unbroken.
Minneapolis Chooses Truth
National debates will continue. Reality will continue to be contested. And local journalism matters more than ever. It gives us a shared civic space, which we desperately need when the nation feels like it is coming apart.
It is up to each of us. Believe propaganda from the federal government, or believe your own eyes? The unaltered videos do not lie. People do.
We must decide what we will believe, and whom we will stand with.
Here in Minneapolis, we choose the Truth. And we choose to support each other.
