State residents join forces to commemorate, protest Renee Good's ICE killing
Mississippians this weekend honored the life of Renee Good, the 37-year-old mother of three gunned down by an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis on Jan. 7, 2026. While paying respects for Good’s life, people protested the overhanded tactics of ICE in communities throughout the United States, including in the Magnolia State.
Just one day after Good’s death, retired attorney and Naval Reserve veteran Len Blackwell was among about 15 people who participated in a peaceful sit-in and sign-making event in front of the federal courthouse in Gulfport. He held a sign reading, “Say Her Name,” referring to Good. Other signs included “ICE = Murderers,” “ICE Murdered an American Citizen. Are You Next?” and “Wife, Poet, Mother of 3. Who is Next? You or Me?”
In addition to holding signs, attendees wrote messages in chalk on the concrete in front of the courthouse. One read: “A mother, wife, person is dead because of ICE.” Another: “Cindy Hyde-Smith is a Gaslighter,” referring to the U.S. senator’s social media response to Good’s killing by an ICE agent, in which Hyde-Smith blamed former President Joe Biden for Good’s death and called on leaders to support law enforcement. She offered no condolences to Good’s family and expressed no sadness over her death.
For his part, Blackwell has been involved in organizing and speaking at protests and other activities aimed at resisting the Trump administration during the past year. Asked if this weekend felt different from prior protests, such as No Kings Day, he said, “Yes, we’re at a tipping point, I think. Americans know when their government is overreaching. . . the president’s popularity is historically low.” Blackwell urged those looking for a way to fight back against the overreach to join a peaceful group and “do something, because it will make a difference.” He added, “There’s almost nothing someone joining a peaceful protest can do wrong. Just by being there we’re standing up for the country we love. So, find a group that is peaceful. Only non-violence works. It will empower whoever joins to resist this creeping fascism. I don’t even think it’s creeping anymore.”
Blackwell’s words echoed those of other observers who have urged Americans to act before it’s too late, including New York Times podcast host Ezra Klein, who this weekend described Good’s shooting as a public execution and warned that “whatever you can do today, you’re not going to be able to do tomorrow. So, act where you can act.”
In north Mississippi, Oxford residents hosted the latest of their standing “Fed up Friday” protest at noon in front of the federal building. The group focused their effort on Good’s death and ICE occupation of American streets. Signs at the event read: “Don’t listen to SPIN from Vance & Noem… Look at the videos! Believe your own eyes!”, “Honk Twice if U Hate ICE” and “Impeach Now.” One protester wore a Trump mask, black and white prison stripes, and a long red tie.
Jackson area resident Harper Moore participated in the ICE Out for Good Visibility Brigade on the Riverside Drive overpass over I-55 on Saturday afternoon. Asked why he chose to attend, Moore explained, “With everything that’s going on in the world and what seems like a just-incredible dearth and lack of empathy, if I can just be one more body and show that there are people out here who really care and really want things to change and need things to change, I will be that body.”
With emotion in his voice, Moore added, “It’s just so hard when you’ve got so many good people and people you care about, and then you look around and see what feels like the world turning their back on them and [it] feels like your country’s turning their back on them.” He said that being among the 60 or so people on the bridge felt good to him, because he was surrounded by people who understood that what is happening in our country is wrong. He urged others to get out of their comfort zone, resist feelings of apathy, and do what they can to stand up for our democracy, “and then do a little more.” Organizers counted 843 honks from vehicles passing under the overpass between 1 pm and 2 pm on Saturday and observed obscene gestures from about 30 motorists.
DeSoto County residents turned their standing Saturday visibility event in front of the courthouse in downtown Hernando into an Ice Out for Good protest. Organized by Indivisible DeSoto MS, the event drew about 40 people. Protesters joined in a chant, exclaiming, “We want justice! We want rights! We want ICE to be out of sight!” Among the signs held by protesters were “We believe our own eyes” and “Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me.” On its Facebook page, Indivisible DeSoto MS wrote about Renee Good, “Friends and relatives describe an all-around decent person, a Christian woman who went on youth mission trips . . . she deserved a normal morning school drop off, not three bullets and a posthumous label that turns a grieving family into collateral in the administration’s culture war.”
Tupelo residents held a silent candlelight vigil at The Depot on Saturday night, organized by Indivisible Northeast MS and the state chapter of Democratic Socialists of America. Some attendees held signs, including pictures of people killed by ICE. People in the crowd read the names of each victim, described the circumstance of their death, and rang a bell. One woman held a portrait of Renee Good with an inscription on the back that read, “American Citizens should not be shot dead in the street.” Organizer Jamie Rebentisch encouraged the crowd to continue to be engaged and said that in America, “It is ordinary people who together can do great things.” The message was to make it a habit to do something every day to make a difference, including getting to know an immigrant family and talking to neighbors about what is happening in our country. “We the people will join arms together and we will get rid of this regime,” one participant proclaimed, referring to the Trump administration. Committee for King and “various immigrant assistance groups” helped organize and promote the Tupelo vigil, in addition to Indivisible and DSA.
Rounding out the memorials and protests over the weekend was a candlelight vigil to honor Good and other ICE victims on Sunday night at Ken Combs Pier on the beach in Gulfport. Billed as a “reflective, peaceful, non-violent event,” the vigil was just that, according to those who attended. Approximately 250 people showed up to pay their respects and be in community with others. Attendee Barbara Blanchard thanked the organizers, including Mississippi Gulf Coast Mutual Aid Collective, and explained that the event “was truly bittersweet, but so well done… My tears were flowing as I pondered how far we are from where I believed we were before Donald Trump.” A participant in the vigil said, “It was a privilege to be among the caring.”
Another participant reported that a man in a pickup truck stopped to film members of the group, then flipped them off before driving away.
Estimates are that more than 1,000 communities across the country held peaceful, ICE Out for Good protests or vigils over the weekend. Nationwide organizers included the Indivisible, MoveOn Civic Action, the ACLU, Voto Latino, United We Dream, and 50501.
Image: Candlelight vigil, Gulfport, Miss. (courtesy Patrick O’Connor)