On Wednesday, Jan. 14, at exactly 9:37:13 a.m., community activist Sheletta Brundidge is asking Minnesotans to gather to pray at the exact spot and moment Renee Nicole Good was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer.
“That will be the one-week anniversary of her death, the moment her three children lost their mother,” Brundidge said. “It’s the exact moment our town was turned upside down.”
Brundidge’s nonprofit, ShelettaMakesADifference.org (SheMAD), is hosting the prayer vigil. She said it is 3 hours, for each of the bullets fired at Good, or to mark each of her three children.
“Even the strongest people feel weak right now,” said Brundidge. “Moments like this remind us of the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who said, ‘Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.’”
Good, 37, was a mother and a poet. According to online records, she studied creative writing at Old Dominion University in Norfolk and won an Academy of American Poets Prize for undergraduate students in 2020.
Good was fatally shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis on Jan. 7 during a confrontation where she had stopped to observe/protest an ICE operation. She was attempting to drive away when she was shot three times.
In the days following the shooting, thousands have marched daily in Minneapolis with a rally on Jan. 10 that drew tens of thousands. Protests and vigils have spread to more than 1,000 locations nationwide, including New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles.
“We need to admit to ourselves that this is above all of our pay grades,” said Reverand June Pierce of Fellowship Minneapolis. Rev.
Pierce will be on hand at the vigil in Minneapolis on Jan. 14. “Maybe we can’t pray our way out of this situation, but God can help us understand how to see it through a new lens and how to get through it.”
Rev. Pierce cited moments in national and global history, including the Civil Rights Movement and the Holocaust, when people turned to prayer to survive.
“When you have hope, healing, faith, and prayer, you touch something higher and better than yourself. Then what is happening doesn’t consume you.”
The 3-hour vigil is also designed to offer support for many Minnesotans who are struggling with anger, fear, and uncertainty. Rev. Pierce encourages people of all faiths or no faith to attend.
“Get out and be among others. You won’t be at your best when you are alone dealing with this," Pierce says.
Faith leaders, prayer warriors, and anyone interested in attending the vigil are asked to sign up for shifts. “There won’t be any marching,” Brundidge declared. “No protesting, no pomp or circumstance. We’ll be standing in one spot, for three hours, in 30-minute intervals, praying for peace and unity.”