RISE

a poem and a plea by Kris Winters: Rise

Keith, Alex, and Renee

A Loving Father and a Joyful Friend and Neighbor
A Healer Who Lived and Died Helping Others
A Poet and a Mother Dedicated till the Very End to Kindness

Three Caring Humans ruthlessly murdered

Strangers to Each Other in Lives Too Brief
And Yet Forever Etched in Collective Memory
as the Very Best of Humanity

These Three Should All Be with Us Today

First, They Were Executed
Then they were Slandered
while their killers were rewarded

This Is Cruelty of the Highest Order

We Who Know the Truth Will Not Forget
We Left Behind Will Not Fall Back or Bow Down
We the People Will Keep Screaming

Rising thru fire, thru ice, thru grief

For Porter, For Pretti, For Good

For Justice

~ a poem and a plea by Kris Winters: Rise ~

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The witnesses in Minneapolis, Minnesota who filmed the murders this month of Renee Nicole Good and of Alex Pretti were instrumental in documenting and preserving the truth about these horrific atrocities. The authors and supporters of Project 2025 currently running the US government continue to smear the names of both victims and even today are continuing to repeat outright lies about these executions and about the cold-blooded murder of Keith Porter, Jr., who was shot to death by an off-duty ICE agent, Brian Palacios, last year. ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot Renee Nicole Good to death in broad daylight. Alex, a Registered Nurse who worked in the Healthcare System for US Veterans, was beaten and shot to death by Department of Homeland Security agents this past Saturday morning for simply helping up a woman that his killers had shoved to the ground. Renee was driving home after dropping her youngest son off at school. Keith was celebrating New Year’s Eve outside his own apartment complex in Los Angeles, California. None of these beautiful souls were a threat to anybody. They harmed no one. And they did nothing to deserve or to bring upon their own murders. The lie that if they had “simply done this or that differently” is perhaps one of the most insidious even though often times people repeat this to make themselves feel better - feel safer - believe that they must in someway or form be BETTER than Keith, Alex, or Renee. We are not better than any of them. We are not smarter. We are no more worthy than they were of life, love, and compassion. They died because soulless bounty hunters were out for blood and chose not to wait anymore to satisfy that hideous desire. Truth is not always complicated, nor is it always comfortable. Some monsters are real. And our comfort is not more important than defending the innocent and standing up to tyranny.

Agents of the Department of Homeland Security killed these innocent people without an ounce of mercy, restraint, or remorse. They walk free while the families of their victims grieve in pain and suffering, mourning the lives of the loved ones who were taken from them. This is wrong. It is shameful, and it is disgusting. And We the People must continue to repeat the truth. The agents who beat and killed Alex have still not even been named or identified.

It is high past time for ICE to be abolished, for the crimes of every DHS official - from the lowest to the highest levels - to be fully prosecuted.

For more information on the lives of Keith, Alex, and Renee and for updates on the public’s demands to hold their murderers to account, I encourage everyone who has not been following The Guardian yet (an excellent international resource for news) to please read the 3 articles listed below.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/24/alex-pretti-minneapolis-minnesota-shooting

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/16/keith-porter-jr-ice-killing

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/22/renee-good-autopsy-ice-minneapolis

The Guardian has written multiple articles about each of these victims, but these 3 above are some of the most impactful; and I cannot emphasize enough how much we owe to the many individuals who never gave up on finding the identity of Keith’s killer. Until just a week ago it seemed the world was never going to know the name of the off-duty ICE agent who killed him. Even when it feels like we are screaming into the void on here, in other platforms, or in marches and rallies demanding answers and denouncing falsehoods, I assure you - that is not the case. You are re-connecting to a community of others who feel the same righteous indignation, you are affirming your humanity and commitment to decency, and you are making a difference. Even if it does not feel like that in the moment or for many days or weeks, you are impacting the arc of justice. And that is precisely why they want you and me to feel that nothing we do matters - that it does not matter if we care or give up: because continuing to rise against this DOES matter.

Taking a stand matters, and helping even when we are feeling hopeless and afraid matters.

Keith, Alex, and Renee mattered.

Good Matters

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