Remarks from a vigil for Renee Nicole Good
Kelly Hayes
07 Jan 2026
... Even though we know ICE has killed before — and will again — even though they shot a woman in Chicago and told lies like the lies they are telling now, even though they are fascist purveyors of violence — their brutality has not hardened or corrupted us. We are still shaken and heartbroken by their violence. That is the cost of staying human in inhuman times ...
There is power in grief, because grief draws us together in moments when our enemies would tear us apart ... They want us to give up on what the world could be, abandon our decency, and abandon each other. They want us to submit to their violence, and to accept that the cost of disrupting their attacks on our communities is death. And if we refuse to forget our neighbors — if we refuse to become dead inside — they want us to live in fear. They want us terrorized, afraid to show up for each other ...
I also want ... us to exercise caution about the language we use in these times. I have heard too many people echo talking points about how poorly trained these fascist kidnappers and murderers are — and I want us to stop and think about that for a moment. Complaining about poorly trained kidnappers and killers. What do we want? Greater professionalism in the violence they perpetrate, or an end to that violence? Polishing impunity only comforts the unaffected. It’s true that many federal agents are sloppy and unprepared, but years of organizing against police violence have taught me that more training doesn’t stop violence. It just makes the death-making more respectable and more expensive. Piling on more money to further professionalize the people committing state violence doesn’t change the core dynamics: what they’re there to do, who they target, and what they can get away with doing. At least 35 people died in ICE custody last year. That is not a failure of training. That is the manufacturing of premature death. And what we want is an end to that violence — however it’s dealt out, however it’s dressed up, however it’s defended ...
So let’s stay brave, stay committed, and stay together. We will remember the fallen, fight like hell for the living, and when this terrible moment is over, we will still have each other, our potential, and the hope of building a better world.
https://organizingmythoughts.org/the-cost-of-staying-human/
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