On Renee Nicole Good, Normalizing Murder When It's Not One of Your Own, and White Supremacist Terrorism
TW: Murder, domestic terrorism, white supremacist terrorism
ICE murdered Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis yesterday because they know that they can. Even with multiple videos of the murder being shared across every form of media possible, showing that this was indeed an unnecessary, murderous act, ICE agents know that they can kill, kidnap, assault, harass, and terrorize communities across this country without facing any repercussions.
Y’all’s president and his cabinet have spent the last 24 hours gaslighting us, telling us that Renee tried to “run over an ICE agent” and that other citizens who witnessed a murder in real time were “paid actors.” If you’ve watched any of the videos of the incident, you know good and well that everything they’re trying to force you to accept is a lie. The male of pallor news cycle has also been on the “she deserved it” bandwagon, saying everything they can to paint Renee’s murder as justifiable.
If you’re Black, Brown, Indigenous, a person of color, and/or a member of the LGBTQIAA+ community?
That all sounds like another Thursday.
The current precedent is that anyone viewed as an emissary of white supremacist terrorism can murder and terrorize people they view as an affront to white supremacy in front of a crowd of citizens and then “Jedi mind trick” their way out of any consequences for their actions to the point that the majority of the public forgets about what happened in seven days or less. The truth is, none of this is new. This level of whiteness and bigotry has always driven the normalization of the harm of Black, Indigenous, and Latino communities, communities of color, and LGBTQIAA+ communities on this stolen land we live on.
And please don’t act like you didn’t know this.
If you’re a person of pallor, you’ve been hearing and seeing testimonials and video footage from Black, Brown, and Indigenous folx for most of your life. You’ve seen the pleas for help and support from communities being terrorized or murdered by white supremacy for decades. You’ve seen white supremacist terrorists take people’s breath away with knees to their necks, kick in their doors and gun them down in cold blood, hang melanated bodies from trees, conduct mass shootings at our gathering places and celebrations, and now be mobilized by your government to kidnap and kill. Some of y’all have marched, protested, pushed for your state representatives to do better, and have been legitimate allies in fighting for others, and I appreciate y’all. But real talk?
The rest of y’all didn’t start caring about the oppression and murder of others until your government started blatantly attacking, harming, terrorizing, and murdering people of pallor in the same ways they’ve been targeting, terrorizing, and killing non-white and non-hetero communities for over a century.
Renee Nicole Good’s murder should be mourned. Renee’s family and community deserve justice. Her murderer should be held accountable. But let’s call a spade a spade: it shouldn’t take people of pallor being endangered in the same ways that melanated and queer communities are endangered every damn day for people of pallor to give a damn about white supremacy and its harmful impacts. And the fact that so many of y’all don’t get it to the point where y’all are out here acting shocked that something like this could happen, and co-opting the “Say Her Name” hashtag, a hashtag created by Black communities to amplify those murdered at the hands of white supremacist policing and terrorists who are regularly ignored by white supremacist media and social mores, to talk about Renee shows how you’re more uncomfortable with the fact that you couldn’t ignore a woman of pallor being murdered in the same ways you ignore everyone else being murdered more than anything else.
We’ve grown tired of asking people of pallor to show up for what seems like time immemorial. Most of us have just stopped asking because what’s the point? But now that the white supremacists are essentially killing and terrorizing their own, how long will y’all care? How long will y’all stay in the fight for justice and safety for everyone in your community, not just people of pallor? You’re angry about what happened. Will you carry that anger and energy into the next time a Black, Brown, or Indigenous person is murdered by white supremacist terrorists? Or will most of y’all be on to the next thing by next week?
We already know the answer.
We won’t be holding our breath waiting for you to prove us wrong.
(Sidenote: I haven’t watched any of the videos and do not plan on watching them. I have a strict personal policy around watching footage of anyone being murdered. If you do watch or have watched any of the videos out there of Ms. Good’s murder, please take care of yourself.)