Haunted by the stuffed animals in her glovebox: ICE murdered a young mom
ICE’s murder of a 37-year-old mother marks an inflection point
I was going to write that there are no words to describe what happened in Minneapolis today, but that’s not strictly true. There’s actually one word — and only one word — that fits, and that’s murder.
A masked ICE agent murdered Renee Nicole Good, an innocent 37-year-old mother who was attempting to drive away at the request of another ICE agent. The killer pulled out his gun, stepped away from the car, peered into the window, and fired multiple bullets right into the woman’s skull. She was there as a legal observer, volunteering her time to monitor the raids being conducted in the otherwise quiet neighborhood. Now this volunteer observer is dead, and the Trump administration has wasted no time smearing her with obvious lies.
In case you haven’t seen the video, or need a reminder of the inhumanity and horror perpetrated by the administration’s secret police, you can watch it here. Here’s a still image that should end any debate about what happened:
The agent was not in any danger. He’d stepped away from the car. He wanted to kill. ICE agents even stopped a doctor from trying to save Ms. Good’s life.
And still, because we live in a political culture that has eliminated shame and rewards militant cravenness, the confrontation and timing of the shots will be reviewed like the Zupruder film, dissected and manipulated by sick reactionaries who want to find a way to justify the murder. Ignore that debate, don’t let it even become a conversation.
Don’t allow them to strip humanity from the Renee Nicole Good, a volunteer activist whose blood was splattered next to the stuffed animals that peeked out from her glove compartment.
Renee Nicole Good was married and had at least one child, a four or five year old boy whose father died in 2023. Chances are that those toys belonged to her son. Now they will forever be reminders than his mother was murdered in cold blood. ICE didn’t stop to consider that they could be murdering somebody’s daughter, wife, or mother, because they’re trained and authorized to treat people like they are disposable.
(Having just gone through two years of serious heart issues and high-risk surgery, the thought of my three-year-old son losing a parent preying constantly on my mind, the image above is almost too much to process.)
Renee Good lived with a partner in the Twin Cities, and was remembered by a local lawmaker at a vigil tonight as “a queer woman, a loved and celebrated community member, who has now been stripped away from her family.”
Stripped away is a kind euphemism. There’s no question that this was a murder; the only real question is whether there will be any consequences for the assailant, the agency conducting the raids, or the politicians who empowered and protected him. There mechanisms for this: the agents, at least, can be charged with murder, and states and localities can pass laws that limit cooperation with ICE.
The stakes are existential. Whether it’s Venezuela or Minneapolis, the Trump administration acts with violent impunity, shooting and killing and capturing whoever it pleases, with no fear of consequences. And that will continue until we have a real opposition party, which will require a bottom-up intervention at all levels of politics.
In the meantime, it’s regular people who are showing up, banding together, risking life and limb to protect one another, to stand up for complete strangers, to protest injustice. Their work is materially important on the ground, as they provide refuge, lookouts, food, and legal assistance, as well as an antidote to the helplessness that creeps up on us when watching unspeakable evil unfold on our phones and TVs.
Even if you’re not in Minneapolis, you can help them in what will undoubtedly be a time of extreme need. Below is a list of organizations that could use your donations and amplification; feel free to add more in the comments:
Centro De Trabajadores Unidos En La Lucha (Center for Workers United in the Fight): Website | Donate
Comunidades Organizando El Poder y la Acción Latina (Communities Organizing Latino Power and Action): Website | Donate
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To counter Trump's lies, just look at the evidence, chronologically:
First, she backs *away* from the agent with a gun.
Then look at the *wheels*: The victim turns to the RIGHT, AWAY FROM THE AGENT. She was not attempting to run him over. She wanted to AVOID HIM.
Then you hear a woman shouting :"NOOOOOooooo".
(I'm not sure who this woman was, perhaps the victim, perhaps someone else, but she seems to have understood immediately what was about to unfold. She hopefully can be a witness in the murder trial of this agent.)
As the car moves forward, the killing agent is now to the left of the car, maybe 2 ft and is not in danger. He has both hands extended forward, which is a shooting stance, holding the gun very close to the driver's head and fires. You hear the shot or shots.
A head shot immediately disables your understanding of what's going on. She must have her foot on the gas pedal but I doubt that she is even aware of her surroundings as the car goes forward and quickly hits another vehicle and stops. She cannot attempt to stop because she is probably already dead.
Look again at the wheels. that is really the proof that he was attempting to block her and she was turning away from him. that's just undeniable
Thanks, Jordan for this article. Why are we getting so immune to the horrible violence committed by this administration? I will be standing up at a protest on Saturday in my area organized by indivisible.