Senate candidate Beaudion: Americans need to do some soul searching. What kind of country do we want?

We find ourselves asking a simple yet profound question: Who are we?Not as a political slogan, not as a rallying cry, but as an honest plea for reflection. At a time when the streets of Minneapolis have been a witness to yet another life cutshort, a compassionate ICU nurse, a neighbor, a human being,shot by federal agents during an immigration enforcement operation, we must pause.

Earlier this month, 37-year-old Renée Good, a mother and citizen, was killed by an ICE agent during an enforcement action that shocked local residents and fueled nationwide debate about the role of federal law enforcement in our communities.

And then, again, another life — Alex Pretti — whose work cared for veterans, whose friends described him as driven by empathy, was taken in a hail of bullets as he recorded and tried to help others amidst the chaos of enforcement.

These are not just headlines. These are human stories. Loved ones whose absence will never be filled, whose lives mattered beyond the moment of tragedy.

So we must ask again: Who are we?

Are we a nation that values human dignity above all?

Do we want to be people who see one another’s suffering and respond with empathy rather than escalation? Do we protect the vulnerable with the same passion we protect ourselves?

These questions matter because at the core of any society is a simple truth: Our strength is not measured by the force we show, but by the compassion we show to one another.

When a mother loses her life, or a caregiver falls in the streets of a city struggling to make sense of itself, the wound is not just local, it reverberates through every community that believes in justice, fairness and the sanctity of life.

Julian Beaudion of Sioux Falls is a former South Dakota state trooper, community leader and owner of a family restaurant. He is a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate.

Photo: public domain, wikimedia commons

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