Bruce Springsteen has again taken aim at President Donald Trump and ICE in the wake of the killing of Renee Good, delivering a pointed message to a crowd gathered for a benefit concert.
Springsteen took the stage January 17 in a surprise appearance at the Light of Day Winterfest in his home state of New Jersey. The annual event raises funds for Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders.
A longtime critic of Trump — with whom Springsteen publicly sparred last year — the 76-year-old rocker slammed the administration while introducing his 1978 song, “The Promised Land.”
“I wrote this song as an ode to American possibility,” Springsteen said. “Right now we are living through incredibly critical times. The United States, the ideals and the value for which it stood for the past 250 years, is being tested like it has never been in modern times. Those values and those ideals have never been as endangered as they are right now.
“If you believe in the power of law and that no one stands above it, if you stand against heavily-armed masked federal troops invading an American city, using gestapo tactics against our fellow citizens, if you believe you don’t deserve to be murdered for exercising your American right to protest, then send a message to this president, as the mayor of the city said: ICE should get the f*** out of Minneapolis,” Springsteen continued, according to a video from the benefit posted to YouTube.
“This song is for you and the memory of the mother of three and an American citizen, Renee Good.”
Good was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis on January 7. In the weeks since the shooting, protests have broken out across the U.S., calling for accountability for Good’s death as well as a separate shooting in Portland where Border Patrol agents wounded two people. Some protests have resulted in clashes with law enforcement, especially in Minneapolis, where ICE is carrying out its largest immigration enforcement operation to date.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey delivered a stark message to the ICE agents sent to the city by Trump in the wake of the shooting: “Get the f*** out.”
“This was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying, getting killed,” he continued.
Springsteen joins a chorus of celebrity voices protesting Trump’s administration. At least week’s Golden Globe Awards, actor Mark Ruffalo blasted Trump as the “worst human being” during a red carpet interview.
“If we’re relying on this guy’s morality for the most powerful country in the world, then we’re all in a lot of trouble,” Ruffalo told USA Today.
“So this is for [Good]. This is for the people in the United States who are terrorized and scared today. I know I’m one of them. I love this country. And what I’m seeing here happening is not America.”
Ruffalo was just one of the many celebrities who attended the ceremony adorned in buttons that said “BE GOOD” and “ICE OUT” to honor Good.