Large crowds gathered at Mariachi Plaza Thursday evening to denounce the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an immigration agent in Minneapolis.
Chants of “Up with liberation, down with deportation!” “No justice, no peace!” and “Say her name!” echoed in the streets as protesters marched across the 1st Street bridge to the Los Angeles Metropolitan Detention Center.
The rally and vigil were organized by the social justice group Centro CSO and joined a wave of protests across the country. Proyecto Pastoral, Union del Barrio, the Community Self-Defense Coalition and the Association of Raza Educators in LA were among the organizations participating.
Demonstrators demanded justice for Good, called for the prosecution of the officer identified as Jonathan Ross and an end to inhumane immigration raids.
“An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us,” said Verita Topete, co-chair for Centro CSO’s immigration committee. “That easily could have been any one of us out here in Los Angeles that are responding to these ICE raids, that are confronting ICE agents.”
The Department of Homeland Security claimed Good was driving toward ICE agents, but an analysis of video footage shows that’s not what happened.
Video taken by witnesses and posted on social media shows Good, a mother of three who had recently moved to Minneapolis, inside her car Wednesday morning when an ICE officer approaches, yells for her to get out of the car and grabs her door handle. As she appears to drive away, another ICE officer standing in front of her car fires into the vehicle at least twice.
ICE called the shooting an act of self-defense, alleging Good attempted to run over agents with her car. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Good had committed an act of “domestic terrorism.”
But local officials and advocates have refuted those claims. “The narrative that this was done in self-defense is a garbage narrative,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said.
In response to increased immigration enforcement last year, Unión del Barrio expanded its community patrols to defend against the raids that swept across Los Angeles.
“When we heard about what happened to Rene yesterday, it hit really close to home,” Unión del Barrio organizer Ron Gochez said. “[It] was not just a tragedy, but it was a brutal and criminal murder of a peaceful person who was there trying to protect and defend her community.”
Her death will not deter organizers, Gochez said, who noted that the movement is growing and encouraged attendees to join an organization to learn how to become a community patroller in their neighborhood.