When protesters become the Other

[marmar]

When protesters become the Other
Renee Good's killing shows how standing with marginalized communities means losing privilege and protection

By Chauncey DeVega
Senior Writer
Published January 15, 2026 12:00PM (EST)


(Salon) Donald Trump speaks the language of autocrats and demagogues fluently. His followers hear it as something beautiful instead of as poison for their hearts and minds. In Minneapolis, Chicago, across the United States and beyond, this authoritarian logic is producing lethal results.

Renee Good was killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer on Jan. 7 in Minneapolis. She was serving as a legal observer, volunteering to document and protest ICE enforcement, which is constitutionally-protected behavior. Her killing was tragic, preventable and predictable.

....(snip)....

Many observers have professed confusion over how Good, an unarmed person, can somehow be seen as a mortal threat. This is not a mystery.

Authoritarian leaders and movements — especially racial authoritarians and nativists — target the Other. Their vision of society is us versus them, friends and enemies, zero-sum; it is rooted in social dominance behavior. For Trump, MAGA and today’s broader right-wing, the Other includes immigrants, racial minorities, women, LGBTQ+ people, disabled people, political opponents and anyone outside their definition of “real America.” These individuals and groups are the “poison” and “vermin” that Trump and his spokespeople have repeatedly said must be purged from “the blood” of the nation.

....(snip)....

“When people are deeply “othered,” the part of the brain that lights up for human recognition shuts down,” powell said. “Instead, the brain reacts with disgust — as if seeing vermin. At that point, people stop being human. You can bomb them, starve them, cage them. Who cares? That’s how genocide and ethnic cleansing begin.” ..................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2026/01/15/how-renee-good-and-ice-protesters-became-the-other/

[Clouds Passing]

1. DumpCo has taken bush's "you're either with us or against us" to a whole new level.

[Linda ladeewolf]

2. In that case. We are all the "Other"!