Renee Good: Remember her name

When horrific things happen to good people

I don’t know how many more blaring wake-up calls we can afford to sleep through before we lose our soul as a nation.

Just about every day for the entire five years Trump has been in office, he’s been chipping away at our humanity, at our rules of law, at safeguards through corporate deregulation, and our reputation as a respected, dominate world powerhouse, which is morphing into a global empire and super bully.

But I’m going to laser focus on a singular incident that happened just days ago, on Jan. 7, which hit me pretty damn hard, and I’m outraged.

I know I’m not alone. Here in Toledo, protestors stood outside of the Government Center to voice their opposition to the terror and havoc ICE provokes throughout the country, particularly in blue cities.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey was so angry he dropped the f-bomb during a news conference, telling ICE to get ‘“the fuck out” of the city. No apologies necessary, Mayor Frey. We feel the same way.

We are also just as outraged with our government’s response.

Minneapolis resident Renee Good was an American, a mother of three, a poet, a Christian. Not a typical target of ICE. She and her wife, Becca were very concerned about ICE’s real targets - immigrants.

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Hear Becca Good’s letter to the public HERE.

The couple was in that neighborhood to document ICE’s presence, maybe even badger, which cost Renee her life. She was murdered by Jonathon Ross, who fired three shots into her car as she attempted to drive away from the scene.

She posed no threat. Had no weapon. Ross could have let her pass, but in his emotions … his rage … over being videotaped and disobeyed, he put himself in harm’s way and reacted with extreme violence when she didn’t obey their orders for her to get out of the vehicle.

By the way, Ross is no rookie. He is an Iraq War veteran and served nearly two decades in Border Patrol and ICE. This was his second time to be involved in a vehicle incident. Back in June he tried to reach into a vehicle and was dragged, resulting in his own injury.

But what struck me most was when Kristi Noem, wearing that absurd cowboy hat, announced on national television during a press conference that Renee was a domestic terrorist who used her car as a weapon, and that the officer was acting in self defense.

Noem, the secretary of Homeland Security, shamefully and irresponsibly, drew her own conclusions before a formal investigation even began.

To make matters worse, Trump and Vance continue to double down on Noem’s false assessment (lies), with Vance publicly dismissing Good as a “deranged leftist.” He claimed that Good was “very disorderly, obstructing and resisting” and that she “violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self defense.” False, false and false. You have to hear it to believe it > Watch Here

First of all - does Noem even know what domestic terrorism is? Let’s start with the definition: The federal government defines domestic terrorism as ideologically driven crimes committed by individuals in the United States who intend to intimidate or coerce a civilian population or influence the policy or conduct of a government.

Here are a few examples of actual domestic terrorist acts:

· Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh

· Eric Robert Rudolph, who bombed abortion clinics, a Florida gay and lesbian nightclub and the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta

· The Unabomber

· Every person who has shot up a school, church, grocery store, concert and political event

Guess what … it’s not left-wing radicals who top that list. According to the FBI and DHS – it’s white supremacists and other racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists who pose persistent and lethal domestic terrorism.

Not people like Renee Good, there to document the violent tendencies of out-of-control and undertrained ICE agents, like those in Portland on Jan. 8. They shot and injured a husband and wife as they drove away in an attempt to escape capture.

When Ross murdered Renee, he demonstrated a reckless abuse of power. But he will be protected by Noem, whose false account of the incident is a complete distortion of the truth. How do we know? It was captured on video, and that’s why it’s so important we continue to document everything ICE does. Those agents know they have full immunity from their actions, thus they are increasingly growing out of control.

Remember when Trump said he could shoot someone on 5^th Ave. and get away with it? Sure, he hasn’t pulled the trigger himself, but under-qualified and sycophants like Noem, Pete Hegseth and Marco Rubio are doing it for him. Where is the accountability?

It’s time to impeach them all, and first up should be Noem. Steps are being taken.

What will it take for his MAGA followers to get a grip, to be humane and compassionate, to choose love over country, to dump Trump.

My heart goes out to Renee and her family; to every immigrant who fears for their lives in a country built by immigrants; and to our entire nation for going through the biggest divide since the Civil War.

Tragically, there will be too many people who will continue to believe the lies; who want ICE on our streets; who think she deserved it. Those are the same people who think immigrants deserve ICE.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz declared Jan. 8 a day of calm and unity. Actually, everyday should be calm and unified. Remember Renee Good. Say her name.