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CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) — In the wake of the shooting death of 37-year-old Renee Good by an ICE Agent on Wednesday, protesters gathered at Market Street Park on Sunday afternoon, calling for the abolition of ICE.
The event, organized by Indivisible Charlottesville, featured 10 speakers and two brief musical performances. Afterward, organizer Sandrina da Cruz told Cville Right Now, despite the cold and windy weather, the event’s turnout was “tremendous.”
“The speakers were incredible. The energy of the crowd was amazing. I think it was a very successful event,” she said.
The event came together on short notice, with da Cruz saying the leadership of Indivisible Charlottesville quickly met, releasing a statement calling for the abolition of ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforecement, that same evening. Within 24 hours, a meeting was held to determine what the organization should do next.
“A vigil seemed like the right idea,” da Cruz said, “and the best way to honor, not just Renee, but also all of those that have been killed by ICE.”
The event focused on ICE and its impact on both Charlottesville and the country as a whole. As one point, Da Cruz read the 35 names of those known to have been killed by ICE, with each being met with a chant of “Abolish ICE” from the crowd, led by fellow organizer Karena Heyward, followed by a brief performance in honor of potential victims “whose names we do not know, whose stories were not properly recorded, and whose lives still mattered,” da Cruz said.
The event also featured speakers who worked directly with the immigrant community in Charlottesville, including executive director of Sin Barreras of Charlottesville Javier Raudales, executive director of the ACLU of Virginia Mary Bauer and immigration lawyer Tanishka Cruz, among others.
“The law is not a shield to excuse violence,” Bauer said in her remarks, “and let me say this — look at us here. They want us to be silent. Well, Charlottesville, we are not silent, and we have power.”
While the focus of the event of centered on Good’s killing and ICE, some speakers took time to highlight the significance of the protest’s location in Market Street Park, formerly Lee Park, the site of the statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee that sparked the Unite the Right rally in 2017. Director of the UVA Democracy Initiative’s Memory Project, and Associate Professor of Religious Studies Jalane Schmidt spoke on the history of the park and the numerous protests that have taken place there.
“Sometimes showing up in public space can be dangerous,” she said. “These fascists are violent. One of them killed Heather Heyer, not far from this park [in 2017]. There is physical risk in showing up to confront fascism, but there is also risk, moral risk, if we don’t show up to support our neighbors.”
The event was concluded with remarks from former Congressman and current Democratic candidate in Virginia’s 5th district Tom Perriello, who is currently endorsed by Indivisible Charlottesville. Perriello only alluded to his campaign once, in a comment that he prefaced by saying it “might be a little self severing, but I do put some skin in the game on this is.”
“We know the executive branch is not going to hold itself accountable, and we know we can’t rely on the judicial branch right now to be a reliable check on due process,” he said. “But we do have control over who will be the majority in Congress this year, and we need to make sure there is a Democratic majority in the House this year.”
But Perriello’s comments mostly focused on other forms of community action, saying, “Today is not the beginning, and today is definitely not the end. We need to take this energy that is keeping us all warm and make sure we are translating that into action.”
Overall, da Cruz and Heyward told Cville Right Now they were pleased with the event and the community support they’ve received during it and others in recent months, including Indivisible’s pop-up protest against Venezuela and Charlottesville’s No Kings Protests last year.
“I feel like in Charlottesville, because of the history here, the events tend to be well attended,” Heyward said. “There tends to be more new faces every time, and I think that’s our goal, is to continue to invite people into collective power and organizing and standing up against fascism.”