Let’s Be Honest About ICE Shootings, and How We Got Here
Simon Hankinson /
We’ve had an avalanche of hot takes since Renee Good was shot in Minneapolis by federal agents.
But there should be no “hot” takes.
There should be cold reasoning—about how we got here and how we avoid things getting worse.
“Hot” indicates anger, a lack of control, lack of thought.
That’s what we saw from Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. He should have expressed his regret at Good’s death—whatever the circumstances—and offered condolences to her family. Then, he should have asked citizens to stay calm and to wait for all the information to be known and evaluated before passing judgment.
Ideally, he’d have expressed support for the beleaguered federal agents who are daily harassed, assaulted, and vilified for doing their jobs as instructed. But apparently that’s asking too much.
Frey is an unparalleled political panderer. He instead gave an emotional, unhinged press conference, in which he blamed federal agents for a situation which he risibly claimed “they created themselves.” He told ICE to “get the f—k out” of Minneapolis.
Then we had Gov. Tim Walz, who said, “we have someone dead in their car for no reason whatsoever.” He was right that the shooting was “preventable” and “unnecessary.”
But he was wrong about why.
Walz and many on the Left blame the government for any injury or damage caused during protests against federal law enforcement for trying to enforce the law. Instead, they should blame activists trying to stop law enforcement using physical means.
“They want a show,” said Walz. By that, he means that the federal government wanted something like this to happen.
If anything, the opposite is true.
Those who oppose the Trump administration in everything it does, but particularly immigration, wanted something like this to happen. They needed a martyr, and they created circumstances to make one.
America is fiercely divided between Left and Right. Between those who want laws enforced, and those who want them abolished or ignored. Between open borders and nationhood. Between socialism and free markets.
On immigration, the Left does not believe any alien in the U.S. should be deported, for any reason.
They believe enforcement of immigration laws passed by an elected Congress is an outrage.
After decades of both parties turning a blind eye to millions of people living here illegally, and especially after four years of Biden positively encouraging illegal immigration, they are incensed to see President Trump doing what he promises—deporting illegal aliens.
Impotent politically, they turned to the streets. They mobilized their army of omni-cause warriors: Antifa, anti-capitalists, Palestinian activists, gender ideologues, socialists, and law enforcement “abolitionists.”
They tapped into the secretive millions of dark money that fund professional left-wing activism and protest. They created the conditions which produced Good’s death.
There was a media rush to paint Renee Good as either a perfect mom peacefully protesting, or as a domestic terrorist.
In truth, she was probably somewhere in the middle. A person who, motivated by passionate beliefs, crossed the line between First Amendment protest and—at best—actively impeded federal law enforcement, which is a felony.
At worst, she tried to run over an officer, which is attempted murder.
Being passionate about politics is as American as apple pie.
But that passion cannot be allowed to spill over into harassment, intimidation, vandalism, or assault against law enforcement or other civilians.
Politicians like Frey, Walz, and several members of Congress should know better. They should not let their blind hatred of Trump, or their militant support of illegal aliens, overcome their basic duty as elected officials to respect the law and those who enforce it.
So long as we have firebrands advocating violent resistance, demonizing law enforcement agents, and refusing to keep the peace, Renee Good won’t be the last to be injured or killed in a public clash between the government and its citizens this year.
I wish I could say I believed that political temperature would cool down and calmer heads prevail.
But I fear that the hot takes, and hot heads, are in the ascendant. The cooler, calmer, reasonable majority of Americans will be left to endure the noise and pick up the pieces.