With chants of “long live Renee” and “these racist thugs have got to go,” several hundred protesters decried a crackdown of federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement in U.S. cities.
The protest was largely led by the Louisville Party for Socialism and Liberation, but progressive elected officials and candidates spoke too, including Louisville Metro Council Members J.P. Lyninger and Shameka Parrish-Wright, who recently announced a mayoral bid, and Charles Booker, who recently announced he would run for Mitch McConnell’s senate seat.
Lyninger opened his speech saying “f*** ICE” and closed it by calling for solidarity among working class people. Both Parrish-Wright and Booker struck a similar tone calling for immigration enforcement to be abolished.
“We cannot stand for any representation or fake representation of our government to take our lives with no regard. We need to abolish ICE. We must have leaders that have a backbone and ain’t scared.” Parrish-Wright said. “If I am mayor, I’m going to tell ICE to get the f*** out of our city.”
At 64 years old, Denise Lamont demonstrated for the first time. She said she was “sick to her stomach” after she saw a widely circulated video of an immigration officer in Minneapolis shooting and killing 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good the day before.
“When you see somebody being murdered like that, it does change you,” she said. “I think there will be people that will finally put up a fight.”
Lamont said she was even more disgusted by federal officials’ quick characterization of the killing as self defense and that the officer has “absolute immunity.” Federal law enforcement is currently conducting an investigation into the killing.
“They just blatantly lie,” she said. “Everybody can see the video of what really happened. And you just get to a point where you just can’t tolerate it any more.”
Ashleigh Skaggs said she attended the protest Thursday to support a grieving Minneapolis community and a fearful immigrant community in Louisville. She’s attended several protests in the past year, and said she believes the latest actions by federal law enforcement will spur more people to action.
“It feels like the people who look like Renee are waking up,” she said. “We’ve been waiting for you.”
Earlier Thursday, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear weighed in on the Minneapolis shooting calling it "foreseeable" and “tragic” and called the federal government’s response “grossly irresponsible.” He said officials should wait for the results of a thorough investigation before making comments that inflame more tension.
Following speeches from activists, organizers and politicians, protesters marched to the Louisville Immigration and Customs Enforcement building on 7th street, kneeled and held a moment of silence for Good.
