Mokta iawke im kommoolol Iroij kōn mour ilo raan in Sabōt. I feel it is necessary to comment on recent U.S. current events and the death of Renee Nicole Good after an encounter with U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement on January 7th in Minneapolis. I find her death deeply tragic. I also find it very concerning how quickly DHS created a story that justifies their increasingly violent interactions with immigrants and citizens. Chikin Melele has been following the increase in deportations for the past two years, and unfortunately we have seen that DHS regularly misrepresents most individuals detained and deported.
The Marshallese man who was detained for over a year and moved to Guantanamo before being repatriated to the RMI was unfairly portrayed by DHS as a violent criminal (when he was fully rehabilitated, a productive worker with supervisory roles, and an essential worker during the pandemic). We have not shared more details about his experience, out of respect to him and his family, as he tries to recover from the traumatic experiences of the past year. But, even though he’s eating fresh iu and drinking fresh waini, epād make iaan.
It is clear that immigration enforcement will lie about having a judicial warrant (most only have an administrative warrant now), pressure individuals to allow them access to private spaces that they do not have the right to enter (workplaces and homes), and intimidate individuals with firearms and lethal force. We also want to encourage people to remember and calmly insist on exercising your rights. If you join in any demonstrations of free speech, please be safe and mindful of your surroundings. (We still remember Afa Loo who was killed at a rally in Salt Lake from friendly fire.)
We also want to emphasize that while citizen journalism and social media allows us to share news quickly, the noise and the ruruwe can be confusing. With the conflicting accounts of Renee Good’s death, I had been waiting to comment through Chikin Melele. I am not willing to describe Renee Good or her wife as “agitators” and I am also uncertain if she was there as a civilian protestor and legal observer or as a bystander (as her ex-husband and mother have both said) driving home from dropping her child off at school. There were legal observers there, which is why we have so much recorded evidence. But, her glove box was full of stuffed animals. It is also clear in the video that she was turning away from the agent in front of her vehicle who stepped in front of her vehicle. No police officer, elected sheriff, or police commissioner thinks the agent’s use of force was justified. Civilian law enforcement is trained in de-escalation. Police officers in the U.S. want us to trust them; they don’t hide their identity.
