A crowd gathered in front of the sandstone arches at Santa Barbara County Courthouse on Wednesday evening to hold a public vigil to honor the death of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, a woman fatally shot by an ICE officer during a federal immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis earlier that same day.
Videos of the fatal incident spread widely across social media and nationwide news networks on January 7, sparking a wave of nationwide protests criticizing the increased escalation of federal enforcement on immigration. The Trump administration released a statement indicating that the officer was acting in self defense, fearing that the woman was attempting to ram him with her vehicle. The video footage appears to contradict this portrayal, as the woman who was fatally shot can be seen turning away from the officer before he fired the first shot.
Here in Santa Barbara, community defense groups spoke out strongly in response to the shooting and quickly organized a public gathering to both mourn Good’s death and call on the local government to stand in support of immigrants.
Those that gathered at the courthouse demonstration held signs reading “ICE out of 805” and “Abolish ICE,” and the crowd chanted Good’s name before a couple of speakers addressed the crowd. Community organizer Chelsea Lancaster, who has been monitoring recent ICE activity with SBResiste, asked for more members of the public to join in protecting their neighbors in the streets.
“We are asking you to get out here and help us,” she said. “You all are living history right now …. We are watching in real time what is happening.”
Lancaster challenged local leaders who have been sitting on the sidelines as federal law enforcement has continued to target Latino community members.
“Either you show up and actually be courageous and stand with the people and get off your keyboards” Lancaster said. “Or don’t say that you represent us, ‘cause you don’t represent us. We demand real leadership.”
Following the demonstration, a video installation created by artist @VJayBombs was projected from the street onto the courthouse walls. The video, called “Love Thy Neighbor,” showed a series of images, ranging from satirical portraits of President Donald Trump and members of his administration, to a set of photos of a masked ICE officer arresting a wide variety of workers and known historical figures.
The January 7 demonstration was organized by a coalition of community defense groups working together to report ICE activity on the Central Coast, including 805 UndocuFund, SBResiste, and Carp Sin Fronteras. These groups will be partnering with the Associated Students of UCSB to host a volunteer training workshop at UCSB on Monday, January 12.
Indivisible Santa Barbara will be holding another emergency protest rally on Saturday, January 10, 10 a.m.-noon, on upper State Street between Hope and Hitchcock avenues (one block south of La Cumbre Plaza).
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