Six years after the murder of George Floyd Jr. in Minneapolis at the hands of a police officer, another Twin Cities resident was killed by law enforcement on Wednesday, again sparking nationwide protests.
Hundreds of Durham residents flooded into CCB Plaza in downtown Durham on Thursday night to protest the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old Minneapolis resident who was killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent on January 7.
Drivers passed by the plaza honking their horns in support of the protest and shaking cowbells out their windows. Attendees waved flags for Venezuela, the United States, and Communist Party USA high above the crowd. Others held signs that read “Make Nazis Afraid Again” and “What Would Jesus Do?” Shining on the side of Unscripted Hotel, formerly home to tiles in the windows that spelled out “We Want Oprah!,” someone projected “VACCINES ARE SAFE – RFK jr. SPREADS LIES.”
Activists from across the community, including student activists and members of Durham Beyond Policing, led the crowd in call-and-response chants, blasting politicians at every level of government, who activists say are complicit in the increased presence of ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents and in the lack of accountability when federal agents use unwarranted and excessive force.
Poet Williams, codirector of Durham Beyond Policing, delivered an impassioned speech about the need for folks to step up in this moment of national turmoil to protect their neighbors.
“We have always had to navigate prejudice, racism, gender bias, and many more things,” Williams said. “We know what we need to go from surviving to thriving.”
A speaker who identified themself as Duran, who is an organizer with the Party of Socialism and Liberation—an activist group with chapters across the country and that helped organize Thursday’s demonstration—called Good’s killing “one of the worst crimes committed by the federal government during the Trump administration.”
In November, Triangle residents braced themselves as CBP agents ramped up operations across North Carolina, raiding schools, places of worship, and other locations federal law enforcement targeted as focal points for immigrant communities. Dozens of Triangle residents were detained in the process, according to Siembra NC. In response, Siembra NC hosted thousands of residents who participated in training sessions to better understand their rights and how to protect themselves and their neighbors against unlawful searches and arrests by CBP and ICE agents.
After the remarks on Thursday, demonstrators marched through downtown to continue to draw attention to recent actions taken by the federal government, including other cases of excessive force used by federal agents, the recent capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, and the United States’ temporary seizure of power in the South American country.
Durham wasn’t the only city in North Carolina to hold protests this week in honor of Good. Dozens of demonstrators gathered outside Fayetteville City Hall on Thursday night in solidarity. Organizers in Durham plan to return to downtown for further actions in the coming days, and more protests are expected across the Triangle this weekend, including one on Saturday afternoon at Greenwood Baptist Church organized by the activist group Cary Indivisible.
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