As the first snowflakes of Winter Storm Fern started to fall, more than 60 people gathered at the corner of Broadway and S. Main Street in Granville to protest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions in Minnesota.
The candlelight vigil followed the killing Saturday of Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse, and the earlier killing of Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, in Minneapolis.
The Granville protest was quickly organized via social media, and many said they felt moved to show up and protest actions they said were shocking and heartbreaking.
One man carrying a protest sign said he was there to speak out against the killing of Pretti and the use of ICE as a paramilitary operation. While holding a sign he said he quickly put together using wood and cardboard in his garage, he said it was his first protest since he graduated from college 20 years ago.
The man said that supporters of ICE actions in Minneapolis have been vocal, and he felt that the more people see folks with opposing views, the more people will speak out against ICE actions.
A Granville woman who helped organize the protest said that “reading the news (of the killing of Pretti) was heartbreaking and shocking, and it hit me like a punch in the gut,” and she felt that she needed to do something.
She said she would like to see leaders stand up and help defuse the situation, and she specifically mentioned Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine as someone who seems to see both sides of the issue.
The woman said she asked a friend to meet at Opera House Park in Granville, and the protest movement quickly grew from there.
The protest included a number of children, who chanted “change the world with love.”
Jack Shuler writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.