Los Angeles demands justice for Renee Nicole Good

Los Angeles, CA – Hundreds of organizers and community members gathered at Mariachi Plaza in historic Boyle Heights, January 8, for a vigil called by Centro CSO to honor Renee Nicole Good, a wife, mother and community defender murdered by ICE agents in Minneapolis.

This cold-blooded killing by ICE marks a stark, yet predictable escalation in federal violence after a summer of increased ICE kidnappings that terrorized communities all across the nation.

The candlelit vigil turned rally featured powerful speeches and uplifting music culminating in a march to the ICE detention facility in downtown LA. Father Brendan Busse of Dolores Mission Church opened the vigil with a moment of silence for Good. Derek Mejia of Centro CSO read the poem On Learning to Dissect Fetal Pigs that won the 2020 Academy of American Poets Prize at Old Dominion University.

Verita Topete, a leader of Centro CSO’s immigration committee and the rally’s emcee, said, “The Trump administration is not backing down but neither are we. We will continue to organize, continue to fight back! An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us!”

Kate Regan, an LAUSD educator and member of Centro CSO stated, “Just three miles away from where an ICE officer shot Renne Good, ICE created chaos at Roosevelt High School dismissal. They tackled students and staff, they pepper-sprayed people, they broke out a car window. Shame! This is not normal. This is not safe. This is not OK.”

Remarking on the increasingly desperate and violent tactics employed by ICE, Ron Gochez from Union del Barrio said, “When you corner a wounded animal, it will strike back viciously. This is an empire that is falling and failing.”

Sol Marquez, a speaker at the rally and a leader of Centro CSO’s immigration committee, posed this question to the rally: “They’re here to terrorize our people, are we gonna accept that?” Gabriel Quiroz Jr of Centro CSO’s Police Accountability Committee, said, “We should all be inspired by [Renee’s] commitment to justice, let’s honor her life by continuing to fight for a better world.”

Once the rally was over, protesters took to the streets to demand justice for Renee Good, an end to the ICE raids, legalization for all, and justice for Keith Porter, a Los Angeles man shot and killed by an off-duty ICE agent on New Year’s Eve. They marched from Mariachi Plaza down 1st Street, crossing over the Los Angeles River and eventually arriving at the Metropolitan Detention Center.

At the detention facility, protesters demanded an end to ICE violence, chanting “No justice, no peace!” “ICE out of LA” and “Jail killer cops.” Michael Williams from Black Lives Matter gave a speech, bringing up the case of Porter. Marchers then turned around and returned to Mariachi Plaza in Boyle Heights.

For more information, follow Centro CSO on social media or email them at CentroCSO@gmail.com

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