Renee Nicole Good was a poet, a mom of three, a spouse. Inside hours of her loss of life, so far as the federal government was involved, she was a domestic terrorist.
On January 7, ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot Good via her automobile windshield and window in Minneapolis. She appeared to have 4 gunshot wounds, according to The New York Times, which cited a Minneapolis Hearth Division report. Hours after the taking pictures, Division of Homeland Safety secretary Kristi Noem accused Good of “[weaponizing] her vehicle.” President Donald Trump claimed the 37-year-old had “violently, willfully, and viciously ran over” the agent who killed her. Vice President JD Vance known as her loss of life “a tragedy of her own making.”
Bystander movies confirmed one thing completely different: Good attempting to drive away when the photographs had been fired. Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey known as the self-defense narrative “bullshit.”
Regardless of the video proof, conservative media fell in line immediately. Good was “100% responsible” for her personal loss of life, in line with Matt Walsh of the Day by day Wire. Megyn Kelly mentioned it “was her personal doing.” The decision felt unanimous: She deserved it.
However the causes used to justify her loss of life have gone far past what she did or didn’t do together with her automobile. A lot of it has centered round Good’s id as a queer girl.
Walsh known as Good a “lesbian agitator.” Ian Miles Cheong, a right-wing commentator with thousands and thousands of followers, known as her a “rug munching leftist.” On Fox Information, Jesse Watters noted that Good “leaves behind a lesbian companion” and highlighted that she had “pronouns in her bio,” seemingly in reference to her Instagram profile.
Good was in a relationship with Becca Good, and the 2 had just lately moved to Minneapolis looking “to make a better life” for themselves, in line with a statement Becca launched after her loss of life. They left Kansas Metropolis, Missouri, for Canada following Trump’s 2024 election victory earlier than heading again stateside, Xtra reported.
A pair days after Good was killed, footage that seems to be from Ross’ cellular phone leaked to conservative Minnesota outlet Alpha Information. It exhibits the moments earlier than the taking pictures. Good is behind the wheel and calmly tells the individual filming, “I’m not mad at you.” Her companion, Becca, is outdoors the automobile, confronting Ross. Becca seems to be defiant and unafraid, telling the individual behind the digital camera, “Go get your self some lunch, huge boy.” As Good tries to drive away, Ross fires a number of photographs. Then, simply earlier than Good’s automobile crashes, a voice is heard saying: “Fucking bitch.”
Whoever leaked that video might have edited the slur out. They did not. And judging by reactions from right-wing influencers, they did not have to.
“There’s an actual sense of disgust with ladies in the way in which that conservative media is speaking about these sorts of protests,” says Courtney Hagle, analysis director at Media Issues for America, who has tracked the right-wing response to Good’s loss of life. “They’re clearly very offended on the presence of girls, and particularly white ladies, liberal ladies.” The video, as Hagle places it, “confirmed for them that this isn’t a human being that they need to care about.”
A number of the commentary, together with references to Becca as Good’s “so-called wife” additionally felt like an insidious method to delegitimize the Items’ relationship.
Chatting with reporters aboard Air Pressure One, President Trump repeatedly referred to Becca Good as Renee’s “friend.” “The girl and her pal had been extremely disrespectful of regulation enforcement,” he mentioned. Leigh Finke, a Minnesota state legislator and the state’s first overtly trans elected official, says this sort of erasure sends a message. “All that they’ll painting it as is disrespectful lesbian ladies who are usually not obeying males in energy.”
