Renee Good: trust your own eyes and ears

      I keep trying to move on, to write about something less unsettling. But I can’t.

      I am haunted by this vibrant, 37-year-old mom, shot dead in broad daylight in a family Minneapolis neighborhood and then dismissed by Donald Trump and all his bullies as some kind of radical agitator.

      I am sickened by a mainstream news media that makes believe it is practicing quality, “fair” journalism by doing things like interviewing a Democratic congressman and a Republican congressman (Washington Post) for their “interpretation” of what they each see on the amalgam of videos in the minutes and seconds before Renee Nicole Good was shot dead at point-blank range.

      Look at the videos yourself. Trust your own eyes and ears.

      The brainwashing in this country has to stop. It’s so pervasive that people are hiding from themselves, looking for a way to doubt their own senses. Not everyone, of course. I’m heartened that more than 300 people stood out in my town Saturday in Renee Nicole Good’s honor. Tens of thousands more did so nationwide.

      But what about the millions who slept in, bought a latte, watched football—looked away?

      What’s going on in this country is shocking, and what happened in Minneapolis epitomizes the very worst of it. Yet increasingly I sense that people are checking out. Either they are numb or too scared to look up.

      So much for a nation and people born of revolution, forged in a Declaration of Independence, built on the mantle of constitutional democracy. A nation that endured a bloody Civil War, crushed the Nazis and, step by step, worked toward something approaching equality.

      Until the haters regrouped, took power and systematically pointed us toward white nationalism by scrubbing our streets of brown immigrants.

      If that’s OK with you, so be it.

      But if not, let’s not fool ourselves anymore. For the record, Renee Nicole Good was white, a citizen, well-educated, family-oriented. Her neighbors in Kansas City–as mom and apple pie as it gets–liked her and her little boy a lot and noted that she steered clear of politics, according to a New York Times profile “Who Was Renee Good, Killed by An Ice Agent in Minneapolis.”

      Now she is dead. Do you think she deserved her fate? If not, ask yourself: What have you done or said or reflected on about the events last Wednesday in Minneapolis.

      Let’s tackle what happened head-on. Renee Nicole Good made some mistakes that fateful day. Her actions before she was shot put her in a vulnerable position. First, she parked her car perpendicularly across a one-way street for several minutes, partially obstructing traffic. She provoked notice.

      She may have done this as a form of protest after ICE agents, 2,000 of them, flooded her city, clearly and overtly provoking and intimidating its residents. She and her wife were part of a group that records ICE roundups on their phones. That’s absolutely legal, though such observers can’t obstruct ICE actions.

      But let’s put this in perspective. You and I sometimes double-park our cars. And sometimes we drive 75 or even 80 mph in a 65-mph speed zone. We take a chance, in our hurry to get somewhere, that we might get a ticket. We certainly don’t expect to be shot and killed for these actions. In cold blood.

      What else do the videos of Renee Nicole Good show? When the ICE agent who killed her walked around her vehicle, she said out her open window—a minute or two before he pulled the trigger, “That’s fine dude. I’m not mad at you.”

      As another ICE agent approached her driver’s door and Renee’s wife, Rebecca Good, could be heard, saying, “drive, baby, drive.” The videos show Good backing up her car several feet and then turning her wheel sharply to the right, away from the ICE agent who killed her, before driving forward. Within seconds, the agent fires through the front window, first once, then twice more. The car, Good now mortally injured or dead behind the wheel, crashes into another parked vehicle.

      It is unclear on the videos just how close Good’s car came as it drove past Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent who killed her. Some media analysts suggest it may have brushed into him. Others, including The New York Times, say no.

      But it is clear that her wheel was turned the other way, veering away from him, when he opened fire.

      Ask yourself. Why would an officer hold a camera in one hand, videotaping, and a gun in the other, shooting, if a car was bearing down on him? Wouldn’t he jump out of the way? And if the car was bearing down on him, why wouldn’t it have plowed into him after he fatally shot Good? Instead, its trajectory took the car away from him.

      Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, the president and the vice-president attacked the victim and exonerated the shooter before any investigation began. They’ve refused to share evidence with state or local law enforcement. Renee Nicole Good was killed at 9:30 in the morning blocks from her home. If this stands and Americans shrug and move on, no one in this country will be safe.

      Referring to the whistles used by immigrant rights’ groups to monitor ICE roundups and warn people of the agency’s approach, Rebecca Good, Renee’s wife, wrote, “We had whistles. They had bullets.”

      She might have added that the “they” are federal law enforcement officials. Neither carrying a badge nor wearing a mask gives them license to kill. And the video makes explicitly clear that is precisely what happened.

      No wonder the federal government of Donald Trump is refusing to allow state and local police to participate in the investigation. We must sustain pressure until that response changes.