In 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) killed between 30 and 32 people.l Only 27 days into January, and the death toll had already reached nine. These aren’t just numbers. These are people whose lives were ended in the authority of a government agency sworn to uphold the law.

While America proclaims “liberty and justice for all,” the lived experiences of minority communities reveal a nation that has repeatedly fallen short of its own ideals.

Instead, in 2026 justice is declared “served” when the execution of an innocent American citizen’s death is considered a “safe” and “satisfactory” of an outcome.

 Even when video footage shows exactly what happened, we’re told to ignore it. To trust statements over our own eyes.

That isn’t justice.

The recent killings of Renee Nicole Goodwin and Alex Jeffery Pretti have shaken many people across the country—and they should. Their deaths were violent, public, and horrifying. They deserve to be named, remembered, and mourned not as symbols, but as human beings whose lives were taken unjustly.

At the same time, it is important to recognize that this kind of violence did not begin with them. People of color have been publicly, wrongfully, and brutally killed by law enforcement for generations, dating back to slavery and continuing through Jim Crow, mass incarceration, and today. The only thing that is “new” about this situation is the color of their skin.

 It took a white woman being publicly executed for people to suddenly wake up. It took an unarmed white man being shot ten times in the middle of the street for political parties to finally agree something was wrong.

Justice shouldn’t depend on race.

The outrage surrounding Goodwin and Pretti should echo beyond their names. Their deaths should force us to confront the many names that never trended, the videos that were ignored, and the families whose grief was dismissed. Justice cannot be selective, and remembrance cannot stop when the headlines fade.

Let’s redefine justice.

Let’s stay outraged not just when the headlines shock us, but when the cameras leave and the statements are filed away.