Honoring Renée Good, Alex Pretti with ceremony

Kevin Abourezk
ICT

MINNEAPOLIS – The metallic rattling of jingle dresses broke the cold winter air as Native dancers and singers gathered in a residential street before the memorial for Renée Good.

More than a hundred people gathered Sunday for a round dance to honor Good, a 37-year-old writer and mother of three who was shot and killed in Minneapolis on Jan. 7 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jonathan Ross. 

The ceremony then moved to the site of the killing of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse who was shot multiple times and killed by two immigration agents on Jan. 24 about a mile-and-a-half from where Good was killed.

“We’re here to stand with the immigrants and anyone that’s affected by ICE and what this administration has been doing to the United States,” said Star Ishkode Downwind, a Red Lake Nation activist.

Sharyl WhiteHawk, Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe, sang and offered a prayer.

“The spirits said, ‘Sing this song before you do your prayers. The times that are coming are going to get really hard and the people are going to need strong prayers,’” she said. “I think that’s appropriate for today.”

People waved signs that read: “ICE Out.” “No One is Illegal on Stolen Land.” Others wore jackets with patches that read “American Indian Movement” and “ICE Out of Mni Sota Makoce.” Women wore red ribbons skirts embroidered with Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives symbols including red hands. Others wore red shawls.

Nicole Matthews, chief executive officer of the Minnesota Indian Women’s Sexual Assault Coalition, said the shawls were meant to represent solidarity and raise awareness of the epidemic of violence against Native people.

“We are here in solidarity to bring healing, to be with our community and to also say, ‘No more,’” she said. “We want ICE off our streets. We want our neighbors to feel safe to come out of their homes.”

Tara Geshik, secretary-treasurer of the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa, spoke about Good and Pretti and about the need to honor their memories with acts of justice and kindness.

“Both gave this city, this community, this state, gifts that will not fade,” she said. “May their names be carried in prayer and their memories kept in our heart. May we live in a way that honors them with compassion, justice and unity.”

The event ended in front of a donut shop and thrift store where Pretti was killed. A drum group sang the AIM song during which the jingle dress dancers war whooped and those in attendance shouted in affirmation.

Lesley, a Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe woman, told ICT that she danced Sunday to honor Pretti, who worked at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs hospital, where her father received treatment.

“He could’ve been one of my dad’s nurses,” she said. “Who else would stand up and do these things?”

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