On ICE and Toxic Masculinity

I want to quote something that Jackson Katz, expert on masculinities, says: "If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to raise a rapist." What we saw on Wednesday, January 7, 2026 in Minneapolis was yet another example of our country's addiction to toxic masculinity. A man with a gun shot an unarmed woman in the face and called her a "f*ing b*ch." 

We live in a society which still hasn't atoned for its violence against women, children, Black people, indigenouse people, Asian people, and the list goes on. The violence has reached such a pitch now that violence against white women, which used to be a private affair, happening in the home or under cover of darkness, is now happening in broad daylight in the street, in full view of the cameras. 

I'd been very confused about ICE violence, the violence of DOGE, of Pete Hegseth, of President Trump. Confused about why it was allowed to continue, why Congress wasn't putting an end to it. And then I realized. We are reaping the natural consequences of all the historical violence that we've never atoned for. This is here, not because ICE and Trump are different than we are, not because they are monsters. But because our culture gave them the opportunity to be formed in this way from childhood, and they grooved on it. Why aren't ICE themselves restraining their comrades who are going over the line? Surely some of them must be feeling pretty darn uncomfortable with the level of brutality that they are being asked to perpetrate. Why aren't the Trumpers turning on him in droves? Why aren't the folks who are working for him quitting in droves? Because they are infected with the belief that violence does not have to be restrained, that being displeased with someone or in disagreement with them is enough justification to blow them away (as if we were living in a violent video game). It is up to us, and we have got a huge task ahead.

Resist the temptation to become like them. Meet violence with resolve and love, just as Renee Good did. Raise children to be responsible and kind. Build institutions that are founded in equal access and inclusive respect. And we've got to do it all at the same time because we didn't do enough before now. We are truly in a war to save our nation from its basest inclinations so that its highest intentions can survive. I believe that we can do this. But we have to personally take risks, and encourage everyone we know to do the same. Everything counts, even the little things. Every conversation. Every post. Every rally. Every call to your legislator. Every. Single. Thing.