People gathered next to Weinland Park Elementary School Sunday afternoon to honor Alex Pretti and Renee Good, among others. Credit: Sandra Fu | Managing Photo Editor
Over 50 people gathered, spoke and offered moments of silence in remembrance of recent lives lost in altercations with U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Sunday.
Held next to the Weinland Park Elementary School, organizers from student groups such as the Ohio Students Association, also known as OSA, and Students for Justice in Palestine, also known as SJP, joined with community organizations such as the Central Ohio Revolutionary Socialists, also known as CORS, and People’s Defense Columbus. The groups spoke out against the actions of federal law enforcement, the Trump administration, the treatment of detainees in federal immigration detention centers and other current issues.
For roughly an hour, organizers spoke in remembrance of Renee Good, who was killed in her vehicle by an ICE agent on Jan. 7, Keith Porter Jr., who was killed by an off-duty agent on New Years Eve after what his loved ones described as him firing celebratory gunshots in the air, Geraldo Lunas Campos, one of three inmates of a Texas detention facility who died within a month of each other, and the most recent death of Alex Pretti, who was killed on Jan. 24 following an altercation with border protection agents that resulted in a shooting.
“It’s important that we stick up in these ways for each other, to remember those killed by the violent rhetoric that has infected not only our communities, but our schools, our workplaces and our country,” said Grace Metz, a second-year in computer science and advocacy chair for the Ohio State chapter of OSA.
Metz said that the recent protest against border patrol agents at the Arts and Sciences career fair, which saw three arrested, two of whom were students, was “dissenting against the same evil which killed Alex Pretti and Renee Good,” and “the same evil which systematically killed and brutalized hundreds of migrant families, mothers, fathers and their children.
“It’s clear that OSU is not afraid to exact state violence against her own students, but it is also clear to me that our leaders are ready and willing to excuse the same violence as it is used against our neighbors,” Metz said.
Faisal Shawar, a third-year in biology and a board member of Ohio State’s SJP, said that there are intersectional similarities in the struggle against Customs Enforcement, also known as ICE, and the fight for Palestinian liberation.
“You see ICE trying to go door-to-door. That’s what happens with the Israeli occupation,” Shawar, who is Palestinian, said. “When I was back home, [at] 10:00 at night, a tank [came] through our neighborhood on the street, just because they could, and the same thing is happening here.”
Following the organizer’s statements, the floor was opened for anyone in attendance to speak, which saw several community members come forward and address the crowd.
Among them were three Ohio State faculty members with the American Association of University Professors, also known as AAUP.
“We’re here in solidarity, especially right now with this particular rally, with all the student organizers who have come together,” said Pranav Jani, associate professor of English and board member of the Ohio State AAUP chapter.
“Not only [in] solidarity with the fight in Minneapolis, but [with] fights going on everywhere else,” Jani said, echoing the notion of intersectionality in activism.
Jani said that every struggle the organizations have fought for are linked together, referencing the recent protest at the career fair and the breakup of pro-Palestine protests in April 2024.
“This is a big moment and it’s good to see people out,” Jani said.
The organizers concluded by calling for those in attendance to take action and speak to their friends and neighbors about organizing within their movement.
The vigil dispersed around 2:15 with organizers staying behind to take questions from those in attendance.
