A raw, visceral reaction to the killings in Minneapolis and the raw, visceral painting that resulted

By David D. Haynes

President Trump has finally fired his embattled secretary of Homeland Security. Kristi Noem will take her cowboy hat and $220 million brand makeover (paid for by you and me) and go to work as special envoy for Shield of the Americas - whatever the hell that is.

But Noem’s firing will not change these brutal facts:

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In January 2026, federal agents acting on behalf of the American government, and its president, shot and killed two U.S. citizens on the streets of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Renée Good and Alex Pretti died exercising their rights of free speech and assembly.

After the killings, government officials (especially Noem and deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller) defamed them as terrorists and lied about what happened; federal officials declined to cooperate with an investigation by the state of of Minnesota.

We have a terrible tendency in this society to move on - to the latest outrage (what Steve Bannon called flooding the zone with shit), to the next meme, to the next bread, the next circus.

But let it sink: In January, in the cold of winter, our own government killed two people doing nothing more than exercising their rights under our Constitution. No firing, no resignation, no prosecution can change that or make it right.

I’m outraged by these senseless killings, by the brutal methods of ICE and Border Control, and by the constant lying. The administration’s ruthless immigration practices are not only bad policy - in the years ahead we will need more immigrants not fewer - they are abjectly un-American.

My outrage found its way into a work of art, one that I began to think about the day Renée Good was killed and which became more urgent after Alex Pretti was shot in the back while pinned to the ground by multiple agents 17 days later.

“Minneapolis in January” 73x48 inches, acrylic on canvas (2026). David D. Haynes. The painting is offered this spring at a silent auction conducted by Art to Change the World, an artist collective in Minneapolis.

“Minneapolis in January” is a large-scale political statement, exposing a moment when the federal government terrorized its own citizens as a political tool. The painting has no focal point, no rest for the eye; its expressive red palette suggests fury and chaos in the wake of the killings. The spare flecks of teal peeking through the red evoke hope.

Because we need hope. And because Minneapolis showed us hope.

The thousands of people who stood in the streets with whistles and phones this winter showed that even under duress, democracy can be strengthened when citizens unite against immoral state power. My painting remembers the victims, even as the lies of a corrupt government encourage us to forget.

In mid-February, federal officials announced that the immigration enforcement action in Minneapolis (Operation Metro Surge) was ending. They had the gall to suggest it had been a success.

And this week, Trump fired Noem. Good.

But it’s notable that leading a department that conducted a brutal crackdown with a private army in American cities and killed our own citizens apparently wasn’t what led Trump to push her aside. She was let her go after she embarrassed herself - and him - at a congressional hearing by claiming that he had given the OK to her $220 million ad campaign. The ads featured the former secretary prominently, including on horseback at Mount Rushmore. It wasn’t the first time she had used tax dollars to build her brand. It wasn’t her first rodeo when it came to scandal.

Noem will ride into infamy. In time, we may forget her. But let’s never forget Renée Good and Alex Pretti and how they died. Especially when we vote in November.

I’ll close with a quote from the most powerful protest anthem in 50 years. Bruce Springsteen’s “Streets of Minneapolis” put it this way:

Trump's federal thugs beat up on
His face and his chest
Then we heard the gunshots
And Alex Pretti lay in the snow dead
Their claim was self-defense, sir
Just don't believe your eyes
It's our blood and bones
And these whistles and phones
Against Miller and Noem's dirty lies

David D. Haynes is an artist working in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin. His website is: daviddhaynesart.org. Reach him at daviddhaynesart@gmail.com