The fatal shooting of Renée Nicole Good in Minneapolis by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent last week has ignited more protests against the agency and the White House – including some prominent music artists.
Veteran rocker Dave Matthews posted a video on Instagram sharing his thoughts, telling fans that “I don’t want my taxes to pay for ICE, to masked thugs to roam our streets and terrorise our communities and rip families apart”.
Matthews also described Good as having been “murdered in front of her fellow citizens in Minneapolis, murdered in the streets – And no matter what narrative this administration is trying to sell us, we can see the videos.”
That narrative can be seen in the US administration’s response to Billie Eilish, who last week reshared several posts on Instagram, including one calling ICE a “terrorist group” and another calling for the agency to be shut down.
When Billboard followed up with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), its spokesperson slated “garbage rhetoric from the likes of Billie Eilish”.
They also claimed that “clearly, Billie Eilish has not seen the newly released footage, which corroborates what DHS has stated all along — that this individual was impeding law enforcement and weaponised her vehicle in an attempt to kill or cause bodily harm to federal law enforcement.”
[This claim continues to be challenged: for example in this article by The Tennessean which summarises analysis of the videos of the shooting.]
Neil Young is another artist speaking out about all this, in a post on his own website late last week.
“How did we elect these creeps who have no spine, no values, no conscience, no way to save the USA,” he wrote. “It’s ICE cold here in America. There was no ICE before Trump. No soldiers in the streets before Trump. Every move he makes is to build instability so he can stay in power.”
Criticism from liberal-leaning artists won’t derail the policies of the current US administration. Indeed, it seems to thrive on them – as seen with its baiting of several artists by using their songs in its social-media posts.
However, Renée Nicole Good’s death is becoming a rallying point for artists and activists alike who are opposed to the current regime. As more musicians speak out, it’s leading towards a big decision for platforms including Spotify, YouTube and Instagram.
When the new, reported-$100m recruitment advertising campaign for ICE kicks off in the coming weeks, will they (if asked) take the money and run the ads, angering those artists? Or will they refuse, and anger the White House instead?
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