Execution, Extortion, and Enrichment
The American Playbook
“They came at us from so many vectors, and so quietly, we never had the chance to assemble ranks…I learned that once a plan is in place, everything can happen overnight,”
Vox by Christina Dalcher.
We should have seen it coming. If there are “heritage Americans” as MAGA believes, they are not nice people. We should have learned from our own history.
The establishment of formal governance structures, the adoption of traditional agricultural practices, the embracing of Western educational strategies, and even the use of enslaved people earned them the moniker “The Five Civilized Tribes.” At times, the tribal governments of the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole nations even ceded portions of their ancestral lands to avoid a complete loss of territory. The acquiescence to these extortion attempts was a final attempt to retain tribal lands without interference from the U.S. government. This strategy failed. Andrew Jackson, with the passage of the Indian Removal Act of 1830, brutally removed 46,000 Indigenous people to land in the west, opening up 25 million acres of land for white settlement and the expansion of slavery. Execution, extortion, and enrichment are our traditional playbooks.
Colonial New England was unquestionably a profoundly patriarchal society. The English common law practice of coverture, where a woman’s legal existence is subsumed under their husband, was the standard until the mid-1800s. Widowed women, women with no male heirs, or women with no male family members, such as brothers, often found themselves in precarious legal positions. Legal options to address their grievances in the court systems were met with scorn and mistrust. Attempts by these frequently financially independent women to integrate and assimilate were rejected by both the church and the state. It should not be surprising that, in Colonial New England, of the women accused of witchcraft, 61% had no male heir or family member. In addition, women who found themselves with no male family protection accounted for 64% of those prosecuted, 76% of those found guilty, and 89% of those executed. For many of these women, the church and state received a financial windfall at their death. As Carol Karlsen writes in her book, The Devil in the Shape of a Woman, “…as women without brothers or women without sons, they stood in the way of the orderly transmission of property from one generation of males to another.” They were executed without evidence, often extorted during the process, and the state/church enriched itself from these executions.
In the United States Constitution, at word 170, enslaved persons in the country were counted as three-fifths of a human being. As a comparison, you have now read 610 words in this essay. All of that is to say, this was clearly an important point to be made in our “founding document” – with almost half of the signers being slave owners, they had to protect their enrichment. The reference can be found in Article 1, Section 2, “…which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service of a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.” Our previous ventures into execution, extortion, and enrichment were so successful that we founded our nation on the principles. The U.S. Constitution was formally ratified and effective on June 21, 1788, after New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify. The final slave was notified of their freedom on June 19, 1865, when Major General Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas, with the news (more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation). For the first seventy-seven years of our official history, we executed slaves, extorted those who disagreed with the practice, and enriched ourselves by “owning” other humans.
Even after the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, Black citizens continued to be subjected to violence and campaigns of terror. In 1921, the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was an economically vibrant community of Black families, often called Black Wall Street. It was a self-contained community with banks, movie theaters, shopping, and cafes. Many of the homes contained indoor plumbing, and the school system was the best in the state. On May 31, 1921, a mob of angry Whites destroyed the community with firebombs. During the destruction, 300 people were killed, 800 were injured, and 9,000 became homeless. Of course, the riot was blamed on the residents of the Greenwood community. However, as Kimberly Fain describes in her article, The Devastation of Black Wall Street, “As a result of a jealous desire to put progressive, high-achieving African-Americans in their place, a wave of domestic white terrorism caused black dispossession.” Private industry and the state benefited from this dispossession as the land was redistributed for industrial use. Execution, extortion, and enrichment are the preferred tools to ensure White male dominance.
We have seen this playbook many times in our short history - Jim Crow laws, internment of Japanese citizens and immigrants, creation of a Communist threat with the Red Scare, removal of LGBTQ employees from their Federal jobs during the Lavender Scare, and the criminalization of anti-war Vietnam protesters are all examples. And consistently, after we execute, extort, and enrich ourselves, we blame the victims. We should have seen this coming.
Execution by agents of the U.S. Government is being conducted. Two U.S. citizens have been murdered in Minneapolis. That is not what the federal government wants you to believe, but you can watch the videos for yourself. “That’s fine, dude, I’m not mad,” - as Renee Good was moving away, the tires and steering wheel turning away from the officer, earned her three direct shots. Holding a cell phone and helping a woman who had been pepper sprayed got Alex Pretti executed. The gun he was legally carrying had been removed before he was shot ten times by multiple officers. Other citizens have been shot, injured, and terrorized. What we really don’t know is what is happening inside the detention facilities. However, with U.S. citizens being nonchalantly killed, I think we can imagine what is happening.
Extortion threats are the new norm. Pam Bondi attempts to extort Minnesota – provide us with voter data, and we will leave your state. ICE extorts immigrants – come out of your house, and we will give your child back to you. The POTUS extorts other nations. To Greenland, “we can do this the easy way or the hard way.” To Venezuela, the message is clear: do what we ask, or we will cause further damage. To Canada – be careful what you say. To NATO – your days are numbered.
Throughout our history, we have stolen from Indigenous peoples, women without male heirs, Black Americans, Japanese citizens/immigrants, and others who were “undeserving.” However, the theft committed by the POTUS against U.S. taxpayers today is criminal. The numbers vary somewhat, but numerous sources report that Trump has increased his wealth by $1 billion to $3 billion over the past 12 months. According to Forbes, by rolling back crypto regulations, Trump has benefited to the tune of $1.4 billion to date. His ongoing litigious nature has also paid off this year, as numerous corporations have rushed to please the king by settling ridiculous lawsuits. As Americans continue to struggle with grocery prices, inflationary pressures caused by tariffs, and a weak job market, the goal is enrichment for POTUS, his family, and his buddies.
Trump has netted 16,822 times the average household income in the past year!
The teaching of selective history has always been a problem. I remember clearly the day, as an adult, that I first read about the race riot in Tulsa, resulting in the loss of life and property as Black Wall Street was destroyed. Or when I first read the book Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann. Having been educated in a public school in Oklahoma, you would have thought the Tulsa race riot and the Osage murders would have been a topic of conversation in a history class, but you would have been mistaken. Not a word was mentioned in any history class I took. Today, the selective teaching of history is even worse. Thirty-seven states have adopted some form of censorship on the teaching of history. The areas of censorship are generally focused on chattel slavery and later Jim Crow. We are raising an entire generation of children that will not be exposed to the atrocities committed by “we the people.” We are attempting to erase our history of execution, extortion, and enrichment.
As I continue to ponder what I can do in this time when I feel helpless, I have found great comfort in what family members have shared about Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Becca Good, wife of Renee, has shared that Renee, “lived by an overarching belief: there is kindness in the world, and we need to do everything we can to find it where it resides and nurture it where it needs to grow. Renee was a Christian who knew that all religions teach the same essential truth: we are here to love each other, care for each other, and keep each other safe and whole.” Becca Good continued, “I am now left to raise our son and to continue teaching him, as Renee believed, that there are people building a better world for him. That the people who did this had fear and anger in their hearts, and we need to show them a better way.” Becca reminds us all:
“We had whistles. They had guns.
Susan and Michael Pretti provided insight into their son Alex, “a kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends and also the American veterans whom he cared for as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital. Alex wanted to make a difference in this world. Unfortunately, he will not be with us to see his impact. The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting.”
“Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man.”
Our job is to ensure that their sacrifices were not in vain. Our job is to tell their stories. Our job is to be involved in whatever way we can contribute – donating to legal entities fighting in the courts, marching in protest, flooding the mailboxes and phones of Congress, and providing protection for immigrants. Our job is to ensure those missing out on historical education know where the path of execution, extortion, and enrichment leads. If you are not yet engaged in this struggle, then you don’t see how the story ends. I suggest you reread The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank as a reminder.
With you in the struggle,
LeAnn
References and Suggested Reading:
Abdul-Alim, Jamaal, and Jusneel Mahal. “How New State Laws and Book Ban Movements Have Made the Teaching of US History Contentious – 5 Essential Reads.” The Conversation, 3 July 2023, https://doi.org/10.64628/AAI.r6mc6fk3c.
Alexander, Dan. “Presidency Boosts Trump’s Net Worth By $3 Billion In A Year.” Forbes, 9 Sept. 2025, https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2025/09/09/presidency-boosts-trumps-net-worth-by-3-billion-in-a-year/.
Dalcher, Christina. Vox. Penguin Publishing Group, 2018.
Editorial Board. “Opinion | How Much Can One Man Make From Being President?” The New York Times, 20 Jan. 2026. Opinion. NYTimes.com, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/01/20/opinion/editorials/trump-wealth-crypto-graft.html.
Erden, Bora, et al. “Timeline: How the Shooting of Alex Jeffrey Pretti Unfolded.” The New York Times, 25 Jan. 2026. U.S. NYTimes.com, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/01/24/us/minneapolis-shooting-alex-pretti-timeline.html.
Fain, Kimberly. “The Devastation of Black Wall Street.” JSTOR Daily, 5 July 2017, https://daily.jstor.org/the-devastation-of-black-wall-street/.
“Here’s How Much Money Trump Made in His First Year Back in Office.” The New Republic. The New Republic, https://newrepublic.com/post/205435/how-much-money-donald-trump-made-first-year.
Karlsen, Carol F. The Devil in the Shape of a Woman: Witchcraft in Colonial New England. 1st ed, W. W. Norton & Company, Incorporated, 1998.
Kaufman, Julia H., and Melissa Kay Diliberti. Social Studies Achievement Has Plummeted Nationally. Four Reasons This Trend Will Not Be Reversed Without Systemic Action. 22 May 2023. www.rand.org, https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2023/05/social-studies-achievement-has-plummeted-nationally.html.
Messer, C. M. (2011). THE TULSA RACE RIOT OF 1921: TOWARD AN INTEGRATIVE THEORY OF COLLECTIVE VIOLENCE. Journal of Social History, 44(4), 1217–1232. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41305432
Rauch, Jonathon. Yes, It’s Fascism. The Atlantic, January 25, 2026. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/01/america-fascism-trump-maga-ice/685751/?gift=5VVxOuaspubnPmVZe9ptTof-OaOtRmnoCbd9kdGpuOk&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
“Renee Good’s Wife Speaks out after Fatal ICE Shooting in Minneapolis: ‘She Literally Sparkled.’” ABC7 Los Angeles, 9 Jan. 2026, https://abc7.com/post/renee-goods-wife-speaks-fatal-ice-shooting-minneapolis-she-literally-sparkled/18378823/.
“The Constitution of the United States: A Transcription.” National Archives, 4 Nov. 2015, https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript.