Athens demands justice for Renee Good

About four hundred people rallied in downtown Athens on Sunday to protest the killing of Renee Good, a 37-year old mother of three from Minneapolis, at the hands of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jonathan Ross.

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TRANSCRIPT

Four hundred people rallied in downtown Athens on Sunday to protest the killing of Renee Good at the hands of ICE in Minneapolis. This is a big crowd for Athens on just two days notice. Protesters held many creative signs, but my favorite was “Honk if you’re not on the Epstein list.” There were cartoon frogs and other characters in attendance but don’t be misled – this crowd was angry.

“Our generation is pissed off! Our whole lives, we’ve seen abuses of power from the top. We don’t really expect the government to work for us when a government of, by and for the billionaires and domestic terrorists are ruling this country. But one thing you should know about our generation and our student body is that we have a very short temper for injustice. In 2020, when George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer, we stood up and stood together to demand justice. Now, just a few years later, where are we now? In the same city where George Floyd was murdered, so too was a mother at the hands of an ICE officer. On January 7, Jonathan Ross murdered Renee Good for daring to defy an occupying force. Shame! Shame! ICE is not welcome in Athens! If we see you, we will call you out. We will film you and your crimes. We will find out who you are under those masks. We have had enough!”

Barbara Burt, the co-leader of the group that organized this protest, Indivisible Georgia 10, laid out her organization’s demands in a calm but defiant tone.

“Hold the killers of Renee Good and others accountable. Demand that Congress stop the insane funding of ICE and the military. The regime is asking for a 50% increase in the already ginormous military budget. At the same time that they are cutting essential aid. This must not happen. Demand that ICE be disbanded and abolished. They are secret police led by criminals who are recruiting trigger-happy racists and misogynist haters. Impeach the regime.”

On Friday, organizers held a candlelight vigil for Good and the other 33 people who ICE has killed, or who have died in ICE custody over the past year. Unfortunately, there will be many more deaths this year as ICE agents continue to terrorize cities across the US. They’re also expanding their operations – just today, in Social Circle, I hear that ICE agents visited the site of an enormous proposed detention facility that’s so big it could double or triple that town’s population. What would you call that except a concentration camp? The good news is that together, we can stop it. My thanks to everyone who’s been showing up and fighting for justice in Athens, Social Circle, Minneapolis and everywhere else.