ICE Killed Renee Good. The Reaction Online Is Almost Worse.

I have been trying to hold it together, but these last few days have been really damn hard for me. The online discussion about Renee has taken some dark turns and it’s so confusing to me. How did we get here? How are people so, evil?

I’ve been sitting here since the news broke that Renee Good was killed, scrolling helplessly through feed after feed of hateful hot takes, bad faith arguments, and outright lies. I didn’t expect to feel this stunned — not because I don’t know how fucked up the world is, but because this time it hit close to home. A mother of three. A writer. A human being.

Renee wasn’t a statistic. She was 37. She was beloved by family, friends, and community. She described herself as a poet and a mom. She lived, loved, and was murdered in broad daylight by an ICE agent. This isn’t just another headline. It’s a tragedy that should shake anyone with a conscience.

Problem is, it’s not.

Since that moment, I’ve seen people rush to justify her death with the same authoritarian logic that excuses state violence anywhere — because it’s not new. But watching people twist reality so casually… dismissing her life, her grief, her family has been uniquely painful for me personally.

I don’t have an easy answer for how to process all of this. But here’s what I know: defending state violence against civilians — whether in Minneapolis, at the border, or anywhere else — is not strength. It’s fear dressed up as righteousness. It’s cruelty masquerading as law and order. It’s felt out LYING from a government that tells you to your face it’s there to protect you, to serve you.

We now know, without a shadow of a doubt that this is not a warning. This is the beginning of the end, and I’m scared we are too late.

If you watched the footage, if you read the words of her wife standing in shock and grief saying “we had whistles, they had guns,” and you still shrug — that says something about who you are and what you value. I have to push people like that out of my life, because it is such a shameful way to live.

I’m not interested in debating semantics or what “could have” happened. I’m interested in human life. In empathy. In the truth that a U.S. citizen was killed by someone sworn to protect people, and that the institutions meant to hold power accountable are either defending him or deflecting responsibility. It’s absolutely ridiculous and insane. As I type this I just don’t fucking understand.

This isn’t just political. It’s moral.

We can’t let hate dominate the narrative.

We don’t let cruelty feel normal. We honor the person who was lost by demanding accountability, compassion, and the kind of justice that recognizes every human life as precious, not as a talking point.

If you are feeling vulnerable, you are not alone.

Renee was more than a story online folks. She was someone’s wife, someone’s mom, someone who mattered. And she deserved better than how she was taken from this world, and better than how people are talking about her death online to fit their narrative.

I’m hurting for her family, and for our country.

Keep your heads up,

Sean