Last week, 37-year-old Renee Good was fatally shot during an ICE operation in Minneapolis, Minnesota, sparking outrage across the country and further igniting protests across the city. In the days since, federal law enforcement activity has only intensified, and national attention has returned to a place many associate with the modern civil rights movement.
BLACK ENTERPRISE spoke with independent journalist Georgia Fort, a Minnesota native, who described the sad familiarity she is feeling about the state of events. Fort owns and operates Power 104.7 FM and the non-profit Center for Broadcast Journalism, training journalists and building local media infrastructure.
“To be here in Minnesota and knowing what we experienced back in 2020, it just feels like it happened here twice,” Fort said. “There was protesting happening before Renee Good was fatally shot. But when Renee Good was shot and killed, the nation erupted in protest. Going back to 2020, it feels like we were the center point of this global movement. And it feels like we’re here again. Even though it’s very different this time, it feels a lot more intense. This time it’s the federal government, not local law enforcement.”
Fort, who is from nearby St. Paul, has spent years reporting on police accountability, civil unrest, and government response across the Twin Cities. She stresses that Minneapolis did not become a flashpoint overnight.
“The world came to know about the struggles here through George Floyd. But George Floyd didn’t happen in a vacuum,” she said. “There was the 18-day occupation in the middle of winter for Jamar Clark. There was Philando Castile. The world saw it, but things didn’t erupt nationally. It was still just our fight.”
She continued, “When you talk about Minnesota being ground zero, there’s been a continuation of injustices that developed organizations and leaders here that learned how to stand up, learned how to organize, learned how to use civil disobedience to push elected officials to make decisions that helped hold the line for our civil rights and constitutional rights.”
Fort recalled a recent conversation with a longtime organizer that reframed how she thinks about this moment. “I said, ‘We’re ground zero again,’ and she said, ‘What do you mean again? We never stopped being ground zero.’”
Being on the scene shortly after Renee Good was killed and documenting the aftermath underscored how layered the situation has become. Fort said that while national coverage has focused on the shooting itself, it has largely missed what was happening simultaneously across the city.
“There are daily protests happening in multiple locations at the same time,” she said. “There are rapid response groups reporting arrests every minute. That infrastructure received a cyberattack. The publisher of the big newspaper got attacked. These things are happening while people are in the streets, and I don’t think national media understands that part that people are experiencing.”
She also pointed to earlier ICE activity in Minnesota as context that is often left out. “In June, the first big ICE raid happened here, and there was a huge protest,” she said. “Days later, one of the protesters did an interview with us. She was arrested at my office.”
Fort said the woman, a Latina protester and legal U.S. citizen, was charged in ways that felt designed to discourage dissent. “They’ve delayed her trial four times. To me, that felt like intimidation. We’ve seen similar charges brought against protesters across the country, and a high percentage don’t hold up in court.”
For Fort, the killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis raised questions that go beyond one incident. “The worst thing that could happen during an ICE arrest happened,” she said. “And I don’t know that elected officials still really know what they can do.”
She added, “One of the questions I keep asking myself is what power municipalities, counties, and states have to leverage against constitutional violations of residents. That nuance isn’t reflected in a significant way.”
That disconnect between rhetoric and action is something Fort says independent journalists are uniquely positioned to interrogate.
“National media helicopters in and then they leave,” she said. “They don’t have the context, the depth, or the relationships. Independent journalists usually have the trust of the community and can get a more raw perspective.”
She added that corporate outlets often rely on institutional sources. “They’re sourcing officials who have their own political agenda. They don’t want to jeopardize those relationships.”
Fort said independent journalists remain after the cameras move on. “The mayor says, ‘Get the F out,’ and it goes viral. But then what is the policy action? What’s the follow-up? Independent journalists are still here asking, ‘So now what?’”
Being on the ground also reveals contradictions that rarely make national headlines. “I was there on the crime scene after Renee Good was fatally shot,” Fort said. “I saw the Minneapolis Police Department and Hennepin County Sheriffs extend the crime scene so federal agents could exit safely. That wasn’t reported anywhere.”
Complicating coverage further is the rise of misinformation, particularly AI-generated content. “AI-generated images and videos are extremely dangerous for the spread of misinformation,” Fort said. “Now people say, ‘Look at this picture, watch this video,’ and it distorts reality.”
She noted that older audiences are especially vulnerable. “They don’t have the cues to identify what’s real and what’s AI. These tools are being weaponized to justify violations of constitutional and civil rights.”
According to Fort, because of the lack of in-depth coverage, it’s important to support independent Black-led media.
“People can help by taking some time to educate themselves,” she said. “Public schools don’t teach media literacy. Support doesn’t have to be money. It can be reading, listening watching, sharing the content that’s being produced by these companies. And then yes, there is the financial support that comes with it. If there’s a monthly subscription, a one-time contribution or if you represent an organization, you can advertise or sponsor, sponsor an event, run an ad, run a PSA.”
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