Bruce Springsteen Dedicates Performance of ‘The Promised Land’ to Renee Good
by Bethy Squires · VULTUREAt the Light of Day festival in New Jersey, Bruce Springsteen dedicated his song about the American promise to slain ICE watcher Renee Good. “This next song is probably one of my greatest songs,” Springsteen said of “The Promised Land” Saturday night, per NJ Arts. “I wrote this song as an ode to American possibility … both to the beautiful but flawed country that we are, and to the country that we could be.” Springsteen said that American possibility and purported values “have never been as endangered as they are right now,” referring to ICE raids on cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, Portland, and most recently Minneapolis. Springsteen decried ICE’s “Gestapo tactics,” saying “if you believe you don’t deserve to be murdered for exercising your American right to protest … then send a message to this President. And as the Mayor of that city has said, ICE should get the fuck out of Minneapolis. So this one is for you, and the memory of the mother of three and American citizen Renee Good.”
On January 7, ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot and killed Renee Good, who was participating observation of ICE’s operations in Minneapolis. Footage appears to show Ross call Good a “fucking bitch” after killing her. Good was reportedly denied medical attention after the shooting. Good was labeled a “domestic terrorist” by the Trump administration. Since the incident, ICE favorability polls have been at an all-time low.