NORTHAMPTON — Outraged by the recent killing of Renee Nicole Good by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minneapolis, well over a 1,000 people took to the streets in Northampton on Jan. 11 to protest ICE’s operations across the country.
The prodigious rally and procession were organized by Indivisible Northampton-Swing Left Western Massachusetts, River Valley Freedom Road Socialist Organization and Northampton Resists.
It was one of several rallies across Western Massachusetts and one of thousands that permeated the country on that day.
Protesters gathered at Northampton City Hall for brief remarks from various speakers before they marched down the sidewalk of Main Street to the corner of King/Pleasant streets, crossed the street, and walked back to City Hall for closing remarks and songs.
Throughout the event, protesters chanted and carried various signs that depicted messages like, “killing and abducting people off our streets is terrorism” and “due process under the law, stop human rights violations.”
Several speakers took to the steps of City Hall, including state Rep. Lindsy Sabadosa, who made her detestation of ICE palpable to the sea of protesters.
“Thank you for showing up and making sure that in Northampton, people took to the streets to say what ICE is doing is just … wrong,” Sabadosa said, leading to a rousing cheer from the crowd.
She noted that it is difficult to walk in the statehouse right now because one bill cannot fix the decades-long problems that surround ICE and their actions. However, she said now is not the time to rollover. Instead, Sabadosa beseeched the crowd to tell legislators to pass three bills that offer greater protections against immigration enforcement agents: the Safe Communities Act, the Immigration Legal Defense Act and the Dignity Not Deportations Act.
“All you need to do is write and call, and do it every day,” Sabadosa said. “Whether it’s to me, or another legislator, or another district; you need us to know that if we do nothing else this session, we need to put a line in the sand and say, ‘our police protect us, they don’t collaborate with ICE.’”
