Overview:

Nearly 170 people protested in Orange against the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE officer in Minneapolis. The demonstration was organized by Indivisible North Quabbin. The protesters criticized the government's handling of the incident and called for accountability and justice for Good's death.

ORANGE — Nearly 170 people lined South Main Street on Saturday to express their anger over the shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good, who was killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in Minneapolis on Jan. 7.

The demonstration was organized by Indivisible North Quabbin, which has been holding weekly protests against the Trump administration. While an occasional thumbs down could be seen from passing motorists, and not everyone downtown agreed with the protesters, there was a steady honking of horns from those supporting the event.

“That is full-on ‘1984.’ The government is telling you what to think and what to believe. It’s like the old joke, ‘Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?’”

Joe Lauer, Wendell resident

Deb Vondal, one of Indivisible North Quabbin’s organizers, said that while turnout for the weekly protests has been “very good,” the number of people who came on Saturday was “pretty impressive given we only had two or three days to organize and publicize it.”

Wendell resident Joe Lauer said Saturday marked his first appearance at a protest in Orange, while also noting his activism dates back to the 1960s. One of his most memorable protests, he said, was joining with members of the NAACP to protest during a speech given by presidential candidate George Wallace in 1968. He was 16 at the time.

Lauer said it was the Minneapolis shooting that motivated him to show up in Orange.

“It broke my heart,” he said. “It seems like a real line has been crossed. Suddenly, innocent American citizens can be killed with impunity, and it looks like a cover-up is going on. The FBI won’t let the state of Minnesota and Hennepin County police authorities participate in the investigation [into the shooting].”

Lauer also criticized comments by Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem labeling Good a “domestic terrorist” and Vice President JD Vance saying her death was “a tragedy of her own making.”

“That is full-on ‘1984.’ The government is telling you what to think and what to believe,” Lauer said. “It’s like the old joke, ‘Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?’”

Fighter Kyle Daukaus leaves his house to exercise at Pleasant Hill Park, Saturday, May 2, 2020, in Philadelphia. Daukaus, a rising star in the regional MMA promotion Cage Fury Fighting Championships, is still chasing his dream of getting the call to fight for UFC despite the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Ryan Redington talks on his phone while tending to his dogs in Alaska, Friday.

Orange resident Linda Gelinas was also on hand, saying it had been a number of weeks since she had last participated in an Indivisible North Quabbin protest. Good’s shooting, she said, is what motivated her to rejoin the efforts.

She described her reaction to last Wednesday’s incident as being, “Horror. Horror and disgust. There is no reason for her to have died. It was unconscionable, absolutely unconscionable. There was no reason for it.”

In an email announcing Saturday’s protest, Indivisible North Quabbin leader Pat Larson said, “This killing is part of a broader pattern of unchecked violence, impunity and abuse carried out by federal immigration enforcement agencies against members of our communities.”

She said Saturday’s event was being held “to demand accountability, honor the life lost and make visible the human cost of ICE’s actions.”

Elsewhere in the region, other “ICE Out For Good” protests were held on Saturday in Greenfield, Belchertown, Hadley, Westfield and Wilbraham. Protests were also held Sunday in Greenfield, Amherst, Easthampton, Northampton and West Springfield. Sunday’s protest in Greenfield is pictured below.