Photo Gallery: The Day of Renee Good’s Killing, Minnesotans Gathered

 

Hours after Renee Nicole Good — a 37-year-old mother of three who had moved to Minneapolis last year from Missouri — was killed by an ICE agent, thousands of people gathered in the neighborhood where she died for a vigil.

On the morning of January 7, Renee Good had dropped off her six-year-old child at school with her partner when she encountered ICE trucks and SUVs and was surrounded by agents. As she attempted to drive away, one of them shot her several times. Her ex-husband told Associated Press that she was not an activist and was a devout Christian.

 

 

Minneapolis schools have since been closed for the rest of the week, partly to protect students from ICE agents. A few hours after Good’s death, about three miles from where she was shot, armed immigration officers tackled people at Roosevelt High School, including handcuffing two staff members and releasing chemical weapons on bystanders, according to MPR. “They don’t care. They’re just animals,” a school official told MPR. “I’ve never seen people behave like this.”

 

 

A news conference with faith leaders will be held today (Thursday). A statement about the news conference indicated they will call for ICE to leave Minnesota: “In its current form, Kristi Noem’s ICE is an illegitimate, untrained, masked militia invading our communities, violating human rights and the Constitution of the United States. Nothing will bring back Renee, but now is the time for responsibility and accountability. … [ICE agents have] proven themselves radically untrustworthy and incapable of respecting human rights, the laws of this country, and our Constitution.”

 

 

A member of the Indigenous Protectors Movement said at the vigil, organized by MIRAC: “It is no surprise that in the same city that George Floyd was killed, another death would took place at the hands of a militarized rogue system. … Despite it all, when we looked at every corner in this city today, what did we see? We saw people with whistles. We saw people checking license plates [to chronicle ICE agents]. We heard honking. This city stood up and protected itself. It mobilized, and we’re going to continue to need this action.”

 

 

The member of the Indigenous Protectors Movement continued: “[What happened today] is horrific. We pray for our sister. We need to maintain the resistance. Don’t burn yourself out. We can’t take care of anything unless we take care of ourselves first. But we need to be in community. Mutual aid and solidarity aren’t just words. It is an experience. An act that we choose every second of the day. We will continue to need the whistles. We will continue to need bodies outside monitoring license plates and notifying people. When people hear those whistles, when people hear those car honks, that is a notification to your neighbors, to your community, that a threat is nearby. We try to keep people from getting kidnapped, and we’re going to continue to need that. Take care of each other. Stay vigilant. What they want is for us to make a mistake. Don’t give them that — keep it peaceful.”

 

 

At Monarca trainings, people are invited to take any of several roles. One of the roles is being physically present as a witness using phones to record and describe what is happening — as happened when witnesses videotaped an ICE agent kill Renee Good, countering what the federal government was claiming happened. Whistle brigades give warning and noise when ICE is in a neighborhood. People are helping black and brown families fill out forms to set up emergency contacts and child guardianships if a family member is abducted. Towing services return cars for free to a home if its owner has been taken. People stay with children who are left behind. As one trainer said: “Especially if they’re left behind in a car, please stay with those children to get them into a warm place, to get them to a safe place.”

 

 

At the end of a Monarca upstander training Wednesday night, where roughly 1,000 people were in attendance, Unidos MN executive director Emilia González Avalos said the purpose of the trainings is “to shed a light on the atrocities that are happening in our community. The job is to remain peaceful.” She also invited anyone involved in surveillance work that targets black and brown people to be part of building a better effort together. “You don’t have to do this.”

 

 

Avalos said Minnesotans will show the country how to choose community. People are watching our state again, she said, and will see “a beautiful movement we’re creating here. … We are meant to make this country better.”

 

 

Several legislators and a local city council person were in attendance at the Wednesday night training after attending the vigil at the site of Renee Good’s murder — one of several held around the state — and indicated they will work to seek legal justice against the man who killed her.

 

Related Resources

Other gun violence involving ICE agents, according to The Trace

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