Into the Light.

What is happening on the streets of America has enraged a significant portion of our population, as we are continually pummeled with the daily abuses and authoritarian behavior that steadily show the violent intimidation, selective enforcement, and all-out assault on our civic participation. Without evidence, the abuses of these directed forces, such as ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement), would go undocumented or simply ignored due to the accusations being too unimaginable.

If we heard accounts of law enforcement throwing elderly bystanders to the ground, abducting U.S. citizens, or shooting them in public executions, there would be a significant segment of the population that would say that all sounds just TOO crazy.

Thankfully, these events ARE being documented.

Why? Because our smartphones have turned us into citizen journalists, providing us all with the ability to make the most heinous acts impossible to ignore. It is without a doubt the most effective tool we have in our non-violent arsenal to demand accountability and to force the mainstream media to cover these events.

Our phones are our weapon of choice in a time when peaceful protesting is imperative, but we still want the power to be more proactive. Our phones allow us to record/document/broadcast these everyday, tragic events as they happen, and these rogue agents recognize (and fear) the power we wield in our hands. It’s why we see them all too often try to snatch our devices away from our grasp.

And that’s because our cameras introduce accountability when these gang-like forces survive on covert violence.

Our phones create a visual record designed to maximize public awareness. It’s how we bring their intimidation and gross misconduct into the light.

And that is something that corrupted power fears most.

Citizen Journalism.

During these times, we can’t afford to look away, and we can’t afford to outsource witnessing to someone else, especially the mainstream media. In fact, it seems they’re now relying on us to show them what to cover. That’s partly due to the fact that, even with all their downsizing and shortcomings, the media can’t be everywhere to capture the moment.

But we can.

We are now in an age where we can actually bear witness to tragic events like Neda Agha-Soltan’s shooting in Tehran (2009), which Reuters has framed as an early example of citizen journalism, or more recently Darnella Frazier’s video of George Floyd’s murder in 2020 in raw and unfiltered horror.

The age of citizen journalism has brought the public INTO these tragic, but culturally-shifting events like never before. Not just because of the heroism of the people on the scene, but their ability to capture it with something we all carry in our very own pocket.

The people who filmed these tragedies didn’t know that what they were capturing were world-changing events. They oftentimes, unaware, switched from spectator to journalist the moment they hit the record button, and we have that same moral responsibility to be just as reactive as well.

Recording the tragedies that transpire in public spaces is not about spectacle or outrage, although that’s an unavoidable outcome. It’s about creating an avalanche of evidence that reveals the terrible truths rather than the sanitized summaries of the mainstream media. Each video becomes a witness that archives history for future generations to forever look back on to see the reality of our times, even the ugliness, no matter how horrific, because those are the moments of reflection we often need to remind ourselves of the crimes of our past in order to not repeat them in the future.

The tragedies of Renee Good and Alex Pretti would have been a blip in the news if not for the everyday citizens who not only witnessed the horror of those events but took the initiative to document them. Without that footage, mainstream media would have moved on to the next shiny object, and without that footage, the legacies  of both Renee and Alex would never exist.

The phone in the pockets of those documentarians may not have saved their lives, but it saved their integrity and reputations. For that, I have no doubt their families are eternally grateful.

This requires us to be vigilant. Authoritarian systems rely on exhaustion and distraction. They count on us being too tired, too busy, or too uncertain to document what feels uncomfortable or tense.

Making the decision to record these events is a deliberate act of civic participation, one that reinforces the idea that democracy depends on the observation/documentation of the abuse of power.

It’s also scary as hell.

Drawing our phone and pointing it at law enforcement is a defensive move that is (as we’ve now seen) taken by forces such as ICE as an act of aggression. When we attempt to capture the moment, these officials lose the confidence to act without restraint; they know that the camera is now their jury.

We’ve all watched countless videos of phones being slapped, grabbed, and thrown by ICE agents, who themselves wear masks and refuse to carry body-cams in an effort to escape accountability.

Being alone in these confrontations is terrifying.

And this is why being a spectator in these moments demands our involvement. Those being confronted, abused, or worse… need our protection.

This can be achieved by one simple, non-violent action.

Hit record.

Creating An Avalanche

This work carries risk, which is why community support matters. People who document these abuses should not be treated as agitators. They are performing a public service that strengthens democratic accountability. Sharing their footage, backing them up when challenged, and ensuring their recordings are preserved and distributed responsibly turns individual action into a resistance that is hard to challenge.

Again, think of Rodney King, George Floyd, and now Renee Good and Alex Pretti. These tragic events were brought into the light because they were captured on video. They provided a narrative that would have otherwise been ignored.

Hearing their last words, “I can’t breathe”, or “That’s fine, dude. I’m not mad at you.” forced a reckoning. It made us question the actions of those who are supposedly there to protect and serve us. Being brought into those final moments made their lives real; it forced us to react, and most importantly, it brought many of us to march in the street in defiance.

“I can’t breathe” made us all undeniable witnesses. It brought moral clarity. It created a mass mobilization. A worldwide mass mobilization.

All from the action of one bystander who decided to record and document the entire tragic event.

How many other tragedies have gone unnoticed because no one had the access or ability to capture an abuse of power? Countless, no doubt.

This is why we have an obligation to use our phones the moment we sense that a situation could turn tragic.

And this is important.

We need to be unafraid to pull out our phones early enough to capture these moments. We need to realize that these moments don’t always scream at us to record them, but often happen in an instant, when grabbing our phones, opening the camera, and hitting record occurs way too late.

We need that avalanche of evidence.

Document Everything

Our awareness and participation as citizen journalists can change narratives, force accountability, and be a record for generations.

Additionally, in a time of A.I., it’s more important than ever that these events are caught by multiple angles, from multiple witnesses.

It’s that avalanche of evidence that forces the general public to accept a narrative that is often counter to initial reports.

We all heard Donald Trump, Stephen Miller, and Kristi Noem tell us from an authoritative position that these tragedies were the result of the victims being confrontational and even violent. They’ve now shown us that their accounts cannot be trusted, because we can SEE that their words do not reflect the documented evidence.

Again, the everyday heroism of those bystanders who simply hit record on their phone is the reason the names of Renee Good and Alex Pretti are not tarnished.

Their phone was the weapon against their spin. Against their blatant attempt to save their own reputations rather than apply justice for the victims who lost their lives. This political spin is the new normal. When what we hear does not match what we see, it is imperative that we not only try to capture these tragic events, but also watch them, no matter how horrible or gut-wrenching. We not only need it for clarity and to stay informed, we owe it to the victims as well.

The question now is not whether attempts to intimidate, assault, and abuse our citizens will occur in the future. History suggests they will. The real question is whether they will happen in silence or whether they are met by a public that is prepared to document, share, and insist on accountability.

We carry the power to make the abuses of our time impossible to ignore, and it’s a heavy responsibility we must now take upon ourselves.

Be safe. Be careful. Be brave.

Protect yourself, your neighbor, and democracy.

And. Document. Everything.