Renee Nicole Good was a poet, a mother, a wife, and a “guitar strummer from Colorado” who was “experiencing Minneapolis.” On January 7th, she was murdered by an ICE agent during an immigration enforcement operation—and millions of people have now watched it happen.
She was 37 years old.
WHAT WE KNOW: Good’s death has already become a flashpoint in America’s escalating immigration wars.
Lying Federal authorities claim the agent acted in self-defense. City and state officials are calling it an unjustified attack. But beyond the political firestorm, there was a person—and the people who loved her are trying to make sure the world knows that.
Her mother, Donna Ganger, told the Minnesota Star Tribune that Good lived with her partner in Minneapolis and had “taken care of people all her life.”
“She was loving, forgiving and affectionate,” Ganger said. “She was an amazing human being.”
Good leaves behind a 6-year-old child and a wife. A GoFundMe describes her as “pure sunshine, pure love.”
The circumstances of why Good was at the immigration enforcement scene remain murky. The Minneapolis City Council said she “was out caring for her neighbors” when the confrontation occurred.
Rep. Ilhan Omar described her as a “legal observer”—people who document and monitor law enforcement behavior, a practice dating back to the Black Panthers.
Good’s mother pushed back on any suggestion her daughter was actively obstructing agents. “She wasn’t part of anything like that at all,” Ganger told the Tribune. She said her daughter “was probably terrified.”
THE RESPONSE: About 1,000 people braved freezing temperatures Wednesday night for a vigil, chanting: “Say her name! Renee Good! Say her name! Renee Good!”
“We’re here today because this is a profound tragedy for Renee and her loved ones and her family,” State Rep. Aisha Gomez told the crowd.
State Rep. Leigh Finke called Good a “loved and celebrated community member, who has now been stripped from her family.” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said he was “deeply sorry” to Good’s family: “There are no words that can make this moment better.”
WHY IT MATTERS: Whatever investigation follows, whatever political battles erupt, a child no longer has a mother. A woman no longer has a wife. And a community that was already watching ICE operations with fear and suspicion now has a name—and a face—attached to that fear.
On her Instagram, Good described herself simply: a poet, a writer, a wife, a mom. Someone who was just trying to experience Minneapolis. Now millions of people are experiencing the last seconds of her life instead.