Fear leads to anger, anger to hatred, hatred to suffering
Monday Ministerial Musings
By Rev. Mark William Ennis
2026 Blog #4
January 26, 2026
Fear leads to anger, anger to hatred, hatred to suffering
It has happened again. Another United States citizen was gunned down, by ICE agents in Minneapolis. It was only about two weeks ago that Rene Nicole Goode died of three gunshot wounds at the hands of an ICE agent. She also was a citizen of this country. Now, because of an ICE agent, she is a deceased citizen.
The latest citizen to be gunned down is named Alex Pretti. I read in the news media reports that he was an ICU nurse who worked in the hospital system taking care of veterans of the United States military. Many of our veterans will no longer be receiving the reported gifted and compassionate care that Alex Pretti gave before he was gunned down.
In the case of the Rene Nicole Goode killing, an ICE agent believed that she was driving toward him. It is speculated that he went into a fear response because of a previous incident during which he was dragged by a car and received substantial injuries.
In the case of Alex Pretti, a witness reported that he walked toward ICE agents with a phone in his hand and was yelling at the agents. The witness describes that ICE agents pinned him to the ground. He was no threat to anyone when he was shot six times by the agents.
I feel sick to my stomach when I saw the videos of these two citizen deaths, but I harken back to my teenage years when a family friend who was the deputy chief of the Jersey City police force, and my uncle Bill, who was an officer, both gave me similar instructions when I was learning how to drive.
Both of them told me that if I was driving and pulled over by police officers there were certain procedures that they expected me to follow. They told me that police officers were on high alert when they did pull overs. In many cases, they were frightened. When pulled over, they told me, it was my job to decrease their fears.
These are the instructions that they told me.
1. Keep your hands in view, empty, and on the steering wheel.
2. If it was after dark, put on the dome light.
3. Always be polite, and call the officer, “Sir.” (There were few female officers then.)
4. If the police officer was rude, be polite but don’t be rude in return. Get his badge number to report his rudeness later.
These actions, my police friends told me, would keep things from escalating and probably would de-escalate a situation.
At the height of the civil rights marches in Jersey City, one black minister received a lot of criticism. He taught young males in his church, when they were approached by police officers, to kneel down and place their hands on their heads. This minister was called an “Uncle Tom” by other members of the clergy. All of his youth, however, survived encounters with members of law enforcement.
I support the protests of the citizens of Minneapolis. I do believe that there is something wrong when law enforcement feels the need to mask themselves. There is something wrong when ICE can break down doors and put people into custody without warrant. I wish that these ICE agents would be more controlled in their behavior.
Until that day comes, let us remember that protesting citizens are frightened, and ICE agents are also. I hope that the protestors will follow the advice that I received as a teenager to lower the fear of law enforcement personnel.
Master Yoda said it best. “Fear leads to anger, anger to hatred, hatred to suffering. The dark side are they.”
I hope that protestors, and federal agents both learn how to begin lowering fear. I read that the Minnesota National Guard has now been deployed to Minneapolis. I pray that they will be able to stand between protestors and ICE agents and perhaps lower the fear level.
I am really tired of federal agents invading a city and killing citizens of the United States.
#ReformedChurchInAmerica # BergenCounty,NJ #www.PastorMarkAuthor.com #www.revmarkwilliamennis.com #GlenRock,NJ #CommunityChurchofGlenRock #Fear # Minneapolis