Around 150 people gathered in Watsonville Plaza Thursday night in a vigil for 37-year-old Renee Nicole Macklin Good, who was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Wednesday in Minnesota.
Carrying candles and homemade signs honoring Good—a mother of three—the gathering marked a solemn and gravely serious moment in American history.
Good’s death is one of several flashpoints boiling over from the Trump administration’s hard-line stance against immigrants, which has included swarms of heavily armed agents stationed in numerous cities around the nation.
“We are here because we feel hurt—very, very hurt—by the fascism we are seeing in this country,” said former Watsonville Mayor Oscar Rios. “We are hurt because we lost another human being because of Trump’s power and greed. We’re going to have to stand together and do everything we can in November to change this order. We have to stop it.”
Rebecca Garcia, another former mayor, showed up with a lit candle in her hand.
“I’ve been involved in my community for many, many years,” she said. “And I have contributed to the democracy of our local area and our state and national area. And this is the only time in my life—and I’m 78 years old—that I am fearful. I’ve never experienced fear before because I’ve always believed in democracy. But our democracy no longer exists like I’ve known it in the past.
The killing, Garcia said, “is contrary to who we are.”
“We have to not only come and honor this woman who lost her life but pray for her too because this is not acceptable,” she said.
Sad, but would have never been shot if she had followed the officer’s orders. Not sure what video these people are watching? She clearly drove towards the officer.
Stupid people who do stupid things usually end up with bad results. Unfortunately, for Ms. Good, her actions resulted in her death.
“We are here because we feel hurt—very, very hurt—by the fascism we are seeing in this country,” said former Watsonville Mayor Oscar Rios. “We are hurt because we lost another human being because of Trump’s power and greed. We’re going to have to stand together and do everything we can in November to change this order. We have to stop it.”
Mr. Rios, not sure if you were born in America or immigrated here, but you and the other clowns are not Americans.