Did You See What I Saw?

Joe Rathburn. Photo by Jeff Wiant.

I’m a songwriter, not a journalist, but after having watched all the available videos of the Renee Nicole Good shooting on January 7, I was shocked, angered, frustrated, and stunned. I was moved to write the following essay, which I posted on Facebook immediately after seeing the videos, yet I felt the urge to do something more. I couldn’t think of what to do until I saw video of the lies that Kristi Noem, Donald Trump, and JD Vance were telling about Renee Good, then I was moved to write a song called “Did You See What I Saw (The Ballad of Renee Nicole Good).” I included at the end of my essay a plea for funds to help me produce the song and an accompanying video. People immediately came through with almost the exact amount needed and, with the help of producer Jeff Berkley; instrumentalists Josh Weinstein, Josh Taylor, Josh Hermsmeir, Rick Nash; and vocalists Cathryn Beeks, Janet Hammer, Kori Gillis, Sandi King, Peter Bolland, and Josh Taylor, we completed the project. Since the Alex Pretti murder happened while we were in production, I was able to add an epilogue verse about him as well. Now that the DOJ has announced they would not investigate the matter any further, it’s imperative that “We the People” not let this matter drop and see that Jonathon Ross is tried for his crime. The video can be seen at joerathburn.com/videos. Now, here is my original essay.

[Disclaimer: If you haven’t seen all the videos of the shooting, you might want to watch them before reading this.]

On the Shooting of Renee Nicole Good.

POINT ONE: All that needs to be said about the Renee Nicole Good shooting is: She should not have been shot. Period, full stop. The rest is academic.

Shooting victim Renee Nicole Good

POINT TWO: If Ross had the time to hold his cell phone while extracting his pistol from its holster and taking aim, he absolutely had time to move two steps to his right from the place his training and law enforcement protocol told him he shouldn’t be in the first place. An officer of the law cannot place themselves in harm’s way and then claim lethal force as self-defense when there was another solution available to them. He obviously got out of the way of Good’s car, albeit after he shot her through the windshield in time to then fire two more shots through her driver’s-side window. He obviously was NOT run over, nor was he hurt badly as evidenced by him walking the 100 feet to her car and back with no visible sign of injury, nor, I might add, any visible sign of remorse.

The video from his cell phone clearly shows the doomed woman desperately trying to steer away from him in a vain attempt to escape the situation, NOT to run him down. She could have just stomped on the gas pedal to accomplish that goal, but that is not what she did. She was actually concerned for his safety! The man who would a split second later end her life. The video taken from behind the vehicle clearly shows her wheels cranked right and Ross’ feet in the clear at the driver’s side of the car by the time the first shot was fired. Also, tell me why this woman who, with her wife and dog in the car and having just dropped her six-year-old off at school, would suddenly want to ruin her life by running down a federal officer with her car?

POINT THREE: It’s been pointed out in many ways by countless people, authorities, and citations from procedural manuals that ICE had no business nor legal authority to order her about, grab her door in an effort to extract her, and, of course, to shoot her. (see above) Their sole authority lies in immigration enforcement, and they have no authority to apprehend, manhandle, or detain U.S. Citizens with very few exceptions. This was not one of those exceptions.

POINT FOUR: “Get out of the fucking car,” last I checked, would not be considered a lawful order. But they didn’t really have the authority to issue any kind of order to her anyway. And, tell me, after having seen the violence inflicted upon others at the hands of ICE, would YOU have gotten out of your car after receiving such an order, or would you have left the scene? Let’s see, get out of the car and get violently thrown to the pavement face down with a knee in my back and be put in handcuffs, or drive away?

POINT FIVE: The inhumanity of Jonathan Ross was evident in the exclamation he uttered the second after he shot Renee, and I quote: “Fucking bitch!”

POINT SIX: Ross left the scene of a homicide with the weapon used against the victim. That’s a no-no!

POINT SEVEN: This one is the biggie after POINT ONE: how do the president of the United States, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the vice president get off casting aspersions on the character of this murdered woman when they knew absolutely nothing about her? They were issuing statements defaming her before she was even cold. Not only does this fall way outside of investigative protocol—completely coloring the public opinion and legal objectivity, but it smacks of a blatant cover-up. They were scrambling to do damage control before any facts were known. Trump lied. “The woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE officer, who seems to have shot her in self-defense.” The videos prove otherwise. Vance lied—(and this is only one of his blatant lies on the subject) “The gaslighting is off the charts and I’m having none of it. This guy was doing his job,” Vance wrote. “She tried to stop him from doing his job. When he approached her car, she tried to hit him.” Again, the videos tear this argument to shreds, and, of course, his claiming “gaslighting” by the other side is so ironically hilarious! Noem lied—Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem described the actions of Renee Nicole Good, a Minneapolis woman fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, as “domestic terrorism.” Noem said that Good refused to obey orders to get out of her car and “weaponize(d) her vehicle” and “attempted to run over an officer.” (See POINT TWO)

Good’s car and the scene of the shooting

I (and every U.S. citizen should) take issue with Noem characterizing Renee Good as a domestic terrorist. She’s no more a domestic terrorist than anyone who speaks up to authority when it oversteps its bounds. That’s one of our unalienable rights. Can you imagine someone filibustering at a city council meeting and being shot? Noem is simply trying to save face and following the party line and agenda to see to it that eventually any opposition to this regime can be met with deadly force no matter who you are or what you’re doing, as long as THEY deem it justified.

POINT EIGHT: Illegal immigration is a problem, yes. But recruiting a bunch of untrained, unqualified thugs with attitudes and gun fetishes, and sending them, fully armed, into our cities and neighborhoods as bounty hunters with quotas to fill, to tear apart the very fabric our society is made from is the completely wrong way to solve the problem. It’s actually alienating our entire population. For all the money spent on ICE raids, salaries, housing, transportation, training (such as it is), and equipment, a lot of progress could be put forth on a viable solution to stop illegal crossings at the border—and not with a wall. I always think the brain is a much better weapon than brawn when used properly.

Folks, this is America. The land of the free. We can say or do anything we damn well please as long as it doesn’t hurt anybody or deny them their rights. This was basically a fancy traffic stop. The ICE agents could’ve easily gone around Good’s car, as a couple of other vehicles did as shown in the video, and as Good asked them to do before they got out of their truck, and again as they approached her. They didn’t even have the authority to approach her; they should’ve called the Minneapolis police for that. But instead, they killed this woman for blocking traffic. She was smiling at them calmly from her car, telling them “That’s fine, dude, I’m not mad at you,” not agitating, not behaving badly or disorderly, just sitting there in protest of their presence. Yet they killed her. Executed her on the spot. It should’ve been a traffic ticket and a fine, but no, it was a death sentence.

Alex Pretti, second shooting victim.

Finally, I’ve seen a number of posts on Facebook since this incident occurred, reminding me that people of color have always lived with this shadow over their heads. The danger of them getting killed for just being in the wrong place at the wrong time has been part of their reality ever since they were first kidnapped and brought to what would eventually be called the Land of the Free. There were the George Floyds, the Trayvon Martins, the Emmett Tills, and all the countless others throughout history who never got that kind of attention. They all deserved it but didn’t get it. I’m sorry.

I believe this case has caught my attention not because Good was white, but because of the copious and obviously damning video evidence. I’ve watched it all. It has me obsessed with the case. My perfectly working eyes have seen all the available evidence. It’s obvious that Ross murdered this woman. Yet so many others are buying the completely false story that Trump and his cronis are selling. It’s simply unfathomable. I can see that if we allow this page in U.S. history to be re-written and whitewashed by the current administration as they are attempting to do, there eventually won’t be anyone immune to instant execution unless they toe the party line.