Like everyone should be, I was shocked, horrified and appalled at the outright murder in cold blood of Renee Nicole Good as she was attempting to slowly drive away from an ICE blockade on January 7th in a snow covered Minneapolis neighborhood.
I have watched the footage numerous times trying to figure out how the DHS claim that she ‘weaponized’ her vehicle to injure an ICE agent could possibly be true. Jonathan Ross didn’t appear to be limited physically as she strode over to her car, not limping, as a few words were spoken by Good, “That’s fine, dude. I’m not mad at you. I’m not mad at you,” as she slowly and gradually, with wheel turned away from him, attempted to drive away. That message was uttered a fragment of time before he pumped three bullets into her, and then one of the ICE agents spewed an invective, “F-ing bitch!”
It’s uncertain whether it came from Ross or one of his comrades. With her blood still fresh and her traumatized wife next to her, Ross was spirited away to a hospital where the administration claimed he was being treated for his injuries. DHS insists that his actions were ‘self defense’. On the outside chance that it was true, that he felt endangered, any officer who discharges a weapon in order to kill a ‘perpetrator’ would still have it confiscated and would still be taken into custody. Why was that not done? We know. The FBI is preventing local law enforcement from investigating the case and is withholding evidence. To add insult to injury, a doctor was on the scene who asked to offer medical care and was prevented from doing so by ICE agents.
Fortunately, citizen journalists had their phones out and were video taping the preventable tragedy as it unfolded and will likely provide the footage to the city administration. This was what stood between justice done for the murder of George Floyd in 2020 one mile away and Derek Chauvin getting away with his heinous act.
Not long after that, ICE was seen at a nearby high school, spewing pepper spray and terrorizing students. The school district made the necessary decision to cancel classes for the rest of the week. How will these kids feel safe in their own neighborhood?
Competing stories have been flying about. Some say that Good was an agitator who intended to violently prevent ICE from doing their duty, others that she was just an observer. Some say that she was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time. Her family paints the picture of a loving and compassionate mother, wife, daughter and friend; a creative soul who had a penchant for social justice. On the other side of the aisle, Ross’ father claims his son was a a victim of anti-ICE and anti-American terrorism and that he will never stand trial since he was only doing his job. And what was his job? Occupying a city that neither needs nor wants ICE agents terrorizing the community at the whim of an anti-immigrant president and his administration. Peaceful protest is patriotic. Good had every right to be there even if it wasn’t just happenstance.
In December, my friend Rev. Fred Small was arrested, along with other peacemakers for attempting to deliver ‘care packages’ to detainees at a processing center. They were not violent. They were not preventing anyone from doing their jobs. They were exercising compassion for fellow humans. His statement says it all, “Masked ICE agents abducted Tufts graduate student Rümeysa Öztürk less than a mile from my home. Jesus told us to welcome the stranger. Instead, ICE is brutalizing our neighbors with wanton cruelty. In this Christmas season, I want to light a candle of kindness and compassion.”
As a journalist who reports on the goings on in our world and a therapist who works with clients who are traumatized by the increasingly dangerous occurrences, I know I need to be informed but not inundated, so I watch and listen to, and read reports from various sources and then take a break and watch comedies. The ‘Trumpaganda’ and Fox News talking points turn my stomach and I wonder what neuro-biological-psychological wiring people must have to embrace it.
When horrors like Good’s murder occur, my mind turns to the idea of free will and fate. When each of them woke up on the morning of January 7th, did either have an inkling that Ross would weaponize his anger and a 37 year old mother of three would lie dead? He got to go home to his family. She did not and never will.
What fuels this hatred? The words and intention of the current occupant of the Oval Office. He was quoted recently when asked about what constraints he had on global domination, as saying, “Yeah, there is one thing,” Trump replied. “My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.” That thought is horrific since the man has no moral compass.
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Featured image SWinxy on Wikimedia under CC License
