Reader Warning: This article contains triggering language about murder, misogyny, and queerphobia.

The country continues to reel after the murder of Renée Nicole Good. Many Americans are outraged by Good’s cold-blooded murder and have gathered together in cities across the country to protest collectively. Even after the gruesome event, well aware of what they were risking, community members in Minneapolis still showed up the next day with whistles, ready to protect their neighbors. Good’s death is an inflection point, with Americans unwilling to back down against an increasingly violent, brazen, aggressive regime, bent on attacking all of us who refuse to obey them. Sadly and not surprisingly, there were also other Americans, MAGA cultists, defending the regime and the killer’s actions. Many of them are white men (and white women) arguing that Good “should have complied” or saying “she FAFO” among other glib statements. It is reminiscent of a comment that human rights attorney Qasim Rashid, Esq. mentioned earlier in October 2026, shortly after Charlie Kirk was killed. An internet commentator named Gregg Mackie said to him, after the federal government began to invade Blue states and Blue cities, “Love to see this happening all across the country! I voted for the fascist, and you tried to kill him! Y’all got Charlie, and we will avenge his death someday! You Lefties are getting what you deserve!” Many of the MAGA cultists, carrying the regime’s water, were also mocking Good’s death, too, and, using Grok, undressing her as well. In addition, I was told by many men yesterday on social media that “she should have stayed home with her kids. She would still be alive if she had.” This is pure unadulterated sexism. They’re telling me, a woman, that women belong in the home, not out in public places, and certainly not exercising our First Amendment right to free speech.

More evidence came out yesterday, revealing an even worse scenario than initially thought, if that were possible. A shocking video from the killer’s phone, who has now been identified as Jonathan Ross, was released. In it, you see a smiling Good behind the wheel of the car. She says to Ross, “That’s fine, dude. I’m not mad at you.” Good is then seen trying to leave the scene. ICE was filming her and noting her plates. The camera flips to Good’s wife, who is also jovial and a bit mocking. She says to him, “Hey, show your face, big boy.” Good’s wife is also seen filming Ross. “We don’t change our plates every morning, just so you know. It will be the same plate when you come talk to us later . . . You want to come at us? You want to come at us? I say go get yourself some lunch, big boy. Go ahead,” she says.

It is clear that neither woman is afraid of the ICE agents, certainly not Ross. As Profess or Philosophy Kate Manne incisively points out in her deeply moving and convincing essay, “Renée Good’s Murder was Misogyny,” this incident was “an instance of misogyny as well as fascism in action.” We all know what Ross did next. He shot her three times in the face, and afterwards, he muttered under his breath, “Fucking bitch.”

As Manne explains, this reveals a deep hatred for women who dare to be unafraid, which emasculated Ross. She adds:

The scenario is not so far from that deservedly famous line of Margaret Atwood’s: men fear women laughing at them. Women fear men killing them, because she dared to laugh at him. In this case, she cheerfully thwarted his attempts to dominate and intimidate. The case is yet another illustration of a point that is crucial to understand about the rise of fascism in this country: misogyny is not an incidental feature or an optional add-on or comorbidity. Misogyny is the beating heart of a fascism that violently safeguards and shores up white male authority—by punishing any social subordinate who questions the designated authority figures. Good was not only killed in a misogynistic spirit, as we knew already from the gendered slur that escaped her murderer’s lips at the crucial moment, like violent punctuation. Good was most likely murdered because she was a woman who undermined a man whose sole raison d’être in his role as an ICE agent is to mercilessly police vulnerable immigrants along with their allies. This is a role that attracts the worst of the worst of men: men who will punish a woman who crosses them in a heartbeat. And this one had the backing of the state and carried a deadly weapon.

Fascism and misogyny go hand in hand. These two women, with their independent spirits, their slight mockery, were subverting the patriarchal power, something that a MAGA following ICE agent like Ross could not tolerate. So, as a result, as I said above and merits repeating, of being emasculated, he murdered one of them. On top of that, they were a lesbian couple, so I have little doubt that queerphobia, which Manne also points out, played a role in her murder, too. Putting all these things together, the misogyny and the queerphobia, and how he called her a “fucking bitch,” after pumping 3 bullets into her face just like that, has drawn me to the conclusion that this was a hate crime.

The federal government, the Trump Regime, is at war with people who refuse to align with its hierarchical white supremacist fascist ideology. This is why Trump signed the NSPM-7 on September 27, 2025. If one does not fall into line, acquiesce, or obey, then one is deemed a “domestic terrorist,” just as Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem deemed Good one before her dead body had even been collected from the street. We are watching a war from within unfold, intensify, and spread, attacking and terrorizing Blue states and Blue cities.

That’s why I am writing this piece and all the other essays I’ve been writing here—I will not be silenced. Today, I am also attending a training on how to counter ICE in my own community, and I encourage you to do the same. Our democracy is hanging by a thread, our most vulnerable community members are under siege, and those of us who are stronger, like Good, must stand up to this tyranny.

FUCK ICE! ABOLISH ICE!

Further Reading