Transcript

The Aftermath of Deadly ICE Shooting in Minneapolis

From Jemele Hill · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 58 min · 9,108 words · 88 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "The Aftermath of Deadly ICE Shooting in Minneapolis", an episode of Jemele Hill published January 9, 2026 (58 min, about 9,108 words). It mentions 10 people, works and ideas, including ICE, Zanzibar, milestone birthday, Jesse Waters, Mauritius.

What this episode is about

The content reflects on a personal journey of the speaker, who took a month-long vacation to Africa for a milestone birthday, seeking respite from the overwhelming chaos of the American news cycle. The speaker expresses a desire to disconnect from constant media consumption and admires those who can enjoy a more carefree existence, despite their own profession in journalism compelling them to remain engaged with current events.

Key takeaways

  • A month in Africa: the ultimate birthday gift or a much-needed escape from chaos?
  • The news cycle is a treadmill; stepping off is revolutionary yet necessary for mental health.
  • ICE's budget: bigger than 15 countries' military budgets combined—welcome to our very own 'goon squad.'
  • While ICE thrives, America still lacks universal health care and paid family leave; priorities, anyone?
  • From kitten videos to chaotic news: can we really escape the noise while being responsible citizens?

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 5:00: December, ICE, milestone birthday
  2. – 10:00: ICE
  3. – 25:00: Jesse Waters, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
  4. – 30:00: Kamal Harris
  5. – 35:00: Kamal Harris
  6. – 45:00: milestone birthday, December
  7. – 50:00: Zanzibar, December, Ethiopia
  8. – 55:00: Zanzibar, Mauritius, Ethiopia, Freddie Mercury
  9. – 58:16: Zanzibar

Notable quotes from "The Aftermath of Deadly ICE Shooting in Minneapolis"

  • Know, some of you may not know this, but I went on vacation for the entire month of December. I was celebrating a milestone birthday.
    about milestone birthday · at
  • But ICE over the next four to five years will have $170 billion. They will have virtually unchecked authority.
    about ICE · at
  • Tangent. I remember I don't know if it was AOC as in Alexandria Okasio Cortez the congresswoman from New York. I don't know if it was her, but I feel like she was among the…
    about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez · at
  • Or at least has a partner. And as soon as I saw that detail, I already knew where it was going. and Jesse Waters who is a Fox News commentator or analyst or anchor who I think…
    about Jesse Waters · at
  • Camera tried to expose the fraud. So naturally, because Donald Trump considers Tim Waltz, the running maker of Kla Harris, to be a political enemy, he is doing everything possible to disrupt.
    about Kamal Harris · at
  • So it wasn't my first trip, but this time around it was Cape Town, Zanzibar, Ethiopia, and Maitius. All of which were absolutely wonderful. Cape Town, if you haven't been there, first of all, everybody in their mama was in Cape.
    about Zanzibar · at
  • Got there late. So we didn't get an opportunity to kind of do like a little bit more. But Ethiopia is definitely some place I go back to. But nevertheless, I feel like if you…
    about Ethiopia · at
  • Did y'all hear that scream? That scream was me. Why did I scream? Because a turtle actually bit me in the ass. That's why I screamed. who gets bit in the ass by a turtle but me. I couldn't believe it. I was I.
    about Mauritius · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Jesse Waters — Person · Referenced media commentator criticized by host · 2 mentions · first at
    Quoted describing Renee Good in a disparaging way; used as example of narrative attacks after killings.
  • Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — Person · Referenced policymaker · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as an early voice calling to abolish/defund ICE, supporting the episode's critique of ICE expansion.
  • Kamal Harris — Person · Referenced political figure · 2 mentions · first at
    Mentioned in comparison about rhetoric and in a separate aside about Tim Walz being her running mate (as stated by host).
  • Freddie Mercury — Person · Cultural trivia reference · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as being born in Zanzibar; used to add historical/cultural color to travel narrative.
    Went to Stone Town. Fun fact, I did not know about Zanzibar. Had no idea Freddy Mercury from Queen was born in Zanzibar. They have a huge Freddy Mercury house right in…

Companies & orgs

  • ICE — Company · Primary institution under critique · 2 mentions · first at
    Presented as an increasingly powerful, well-funded, and unaccountable federal force; blamed for Renee Good's death and broader intimidation tactics.

Places & events

  • Zanzibar — Place · Travel location / cultural reference · 6 mentions · first at
    Highlighted as a beautiful destination; used to introduce Freddie Mercury birthplace fact and cultural excursions (Stone Town).
  • milestone birthday — Event · Personal milestone / narrative pivot · 2 mentions · first at
    Motivates the Africa trip and the host's decision to do an implied nude photoshoot; used to discuss aging and personal growth.
  • Mauritius — Place · Travel location / anecdote setting · 1 mention · first at
    Used for extended personal story (swimming with turtles) and observations about demographics and history.
  • December — Event · Timeframe anchor · 4 mentions · first at
    Frames the host's month-long vacation and birthday timing; also contrasts with rapid news chaos upon return.
    Back. well rested for sure. some of you may not know this, but I went on vacation for the entire month of December. I was celebrating a milestone birthday.
  • Ethiopia — Place · Brief travel stop · 2 mentions · first at
    Mentioned as an overnight layover; host describes nightlife and desire to return.

Full transcript with timestamps

Hey, what's going on everybody? I am back. Um, well rested for sure. Uh, you know, some of you may not know this, but I went on vacation for the entire month of December. Uh, I was celebrating a milestone birthday. I'll get to that a little later because I did something that I never thought I would do for that milestone birthday. And I'll explain to you what it is. And uh, I've been gone for the last month in on the continent, the continent of Africa. visited a bunch of places. I'll go through my trip again a little later because we have a lot to talk about and and one of the reasons I wanted to go specifically away for a month because I told my husband that you know he asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday and I told him I was like hey I want to be gone a month that's what I want to do and he made it happen 100%. And a big reason uh you know that I wanted to be going away from the month is because I

just felt like I kind of needed a break from a lot of the things happening here. Not just a break from our news cycle, which we know is just an hour hours worth of news is enough to fill I mean an hour's worth of news in America. I'm trying to think of the best way to put this is so much chaos happening in this country that you just don't get a break mentally. You just do not get a break. It's just non-stop. Now, I admire the people who are able to uh to come or or to live in an existence where they don't pay attention to the news, where they don't pay attention to social media, where they go to their social media feeds and they're looking at kittens and cats playing in nature. I want I wish I could be one of those people, but unfortunately, I'm not. Some of it is by nature a profession. When you're a professional journalist, naturally, you pay attention to the news cycle. Now, of course, I have an excuse

because I could do just sports if I wanted to. I could just only pay attention to John Harbaugh being fired or as is the case today, Mike McDaniel being fired and that could be my entire existence if I wanted it to. But I don't think that we can afford to do it. And especially as a taxpayer, as a concerned citizen, and as someone who loves America, it's impossible to do that. So certainly I felt like I needed a break from this country, but I also needed a professional break. I needed to reset, revamp, replenish, and restore.

And what better time to do that than around your birthday, especially if like me, you were happen to be blessed to be born in December. So that month was a very specific, purposeful timeline. So I have been back officially. Today is what, Thursday? I've been back in this country for two days. Two days. And the amount of [ __ ] that's happened in two days is Insanity doesn't even cover it. So, I'm going to begin with, of course, what everybody is talking about right now, and that is Renee Good, a Minneapolis, a US citizen who is in Minneapolis, her being killed by ICE. And based off what I seen from the footage, I would say Renee Good was murdered by ICE. from what I've seen. And of course, for those of us who were here in 2020 and kneedeep and all the things that were happening beyond just the pandemic, naturally, this evokes a lot of what was experienced with George Floyd. But this is different in a

lot in a lot of ways. Not different because it's a worst tragedy. I don't like to play the tragedy Olympics necessarily. It's it's an equally alarming travity tragedy all rooted from the same place. Now I hope we all have an understanding of just how powerful ICE has become because I think that's part of what we have to understand as we try to make sense of this incident. And I don't even think we can make sense of it. We can't in one regard. If you understand anything about white supremacy, you totally know how this happened or the mechanisms that put this into place.

But ICE over the next four to five years will have $170 billion. They will have virtually unchecked authority. They are essentially a goon squad at this point. unchecked, lots of money, and built on the premise of deporting people and cleaning up the country from the undesirable undocumented people or people here illegally, which is all part of this narrative sale. And I want you all before I start talking about the unfortunate news that happened to Rene to take a look at something that I think is important as we put this into context about ICE. Now, this is a nifty little graph that I found about ICE um and about its unprecedented annual budget growth. All right, under ICE, that arm of the government has gained $ 37 billion. It eclipses the budgets of other every domestic law enforcement agency. All right? And if you look here, this is ISIS budget versus the countries of other defense budget. ICE has a

bigger budget, a bigger budget just by themselves than the entire defense budget of Italy, Israel, the Netherlands Brazil Switzerland Algeria Spain Taiwan Paraguay Iran Singapore Morocco Sweden and Indonesia. That's multiple countries. ICE alone, that's the kind of budget they're dealing with. larger than 15 other countries. All right. Then you look at just American federal law enforcement agencies by themselves. ICE has 37.5 billion dollars for this year. That is bigger than the FBI, Bureau of Prisons, the US Marshalss, the DEA, and ATF combined.

So that's a lot of money and unchecked authority. Especially when we're in a country, we put that much money into ICE where we still don't have universal health care. We're still one of few developed nations that does not have paid family leave, paid maternity leave. We don't have any of these things, but we have a goon squad that is running around this country terrorizing people, killing people, and we're and they have a budget that's bigger than the US Marines. That's where we are now. Generally speaking, when it's these vid uh these videos that incite a level of trauma, I don't like to show them because one, I'm afraid we'll become desensitized and it'll be just another video. I was afraid of that with George Floyd. I was afraid of that with Ahmad Arbury. I was afraid of that with Bana Taylor's. Like, as we see more of this um that it's going to become normalized just by the sense that we're seeing more of these

things. So, I'd like to be a little more judicious in it, but I want to play and let's watch this together. And this video is a little lengthy, but I'll be stopping and starting it and adding my own thoughts to it. I want us together to watch a piece that was done by the New York Times's digital team. I have my issues with them, but I thought this piece was excellent where they broke down what happened with Renee Good and Minneapolis. Minneapolis, a m a mother of three. So, she had two children from her first marriage. She had one a six-year-old uh with her second marriage and she was a widowerower. Her I think I believe that the her second husband is is no longer with us. So, she has three kids and she was in a a relationship. She had a she had a partner and I'll show you how that so how once it was discovered that she was partnered with a woman how that also changed the narrative.

But I want us to watch this video with the New York Times that the New York Times has put together analyzing this incident together because once again there are a lot of people out there despite the fact that we can all see what happens in this video they playing in our face and telling us that what we see is not what actually happened. So, let me go ahead and play this video by the New York Times. And I I really want you guys to pay attention. On Wednesday in Minneapolis, a federal agent fatally shot a motorist, 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good.

Trump administration officials said these were quote defensive shots fired because the officer was being run over. and a woman attacked them and those surrounding them and attempted to run them over.

But our analysis of bystander footage filmed from different angles appears to show the agent was not in the path of the victim's SUV when he

Now, I want to stop it there because it's important that we understand how many times have we seen this before. I don't have it readily able to toss it up, but if you remember when George Floyd was murdered, do you remember what that original police report said? The original police report was so far away from what we saw from the video. It was an outright lie, a propaganda lie. They made it seem as if George Floyd just had his own medical incident that was not at all induced by the fact that somebody knelt on his neck for nearly 10 minutes and that's how he died. And so now we're seeing the same thing here with Renee Good. The description that Christy Gnome said of what this incident was in no way matches the video. That woman was not trying to run over the officer from ICE. But so they're already trying to frame in your mind that the reason that she's dead is because she caused her own death by

using her weapon by using her vehicle as a weapon, which law enforcement officials will tell you they are not supposed to shoot someone who's fleeing. But if you use your vehicle as a weapon against them, they have a license to kill. But let's continue to watch.

THREE SHOTS at close range. Here's how events unfolded. Moments before the shooting, the victim's maroon SUV is stopped in the middle of the street. Multiple unmarked federal vehicles are idling nearby. Secretary Gnome alleged the motorist quote was blocking the officers in. Bystanders are blowing whistles and yelling at federal agents.

Go home to Texas. Then federal vehicles start moving toward the maroon SUV with sirens and lights blaring.

A federal agent films the scene on his phone. The driver rolls forward slightly, turning left, then stops and waves for others to go ahead. Two agents exit this silver pickup and walk toward the vehicle. Moments later, shots are fired.

Let's look at the scene again more closely. This is the agent who shoots the driver. He walks around the car filming and disappears from view. Other agents pull up and order the driver to exit her vehicle.

One of them grabs at the door handle and reaches inside. The SUV reverses, then turns right, apparently attempting to leave.

At the same time, the agent filming crosses toward the left of the vehicle and grabs his gun. He opens fire on the motorist and continues shooting as she drives past.

So, let's just get this clear about the sequence of events that we're seeing right now. She is clearly just trying to escape them because I don't know about you all, but I'd probably be pretty terrified if a man wearing a mask with a gun and while they may have appear to have on some law enforcement gear coming at me, I think I'd be pretty terrified in that case. And I'm sure at this point because of the reputation of ICE and because of where they've been, especially in Minnesota where over 3,000 of them have been deployed according to reports, that that's a very scary situation to be in.

And if this officer really felt like he was in danger, I'm wondering how he's filming, cuz I hope y'all peep that he's filming at at the same time. All she does is turn her wheel and he has that gun ready to kill her. He shot her in the face. Like that wasn't a situation where he was trying to neutralize. She didn't open her car door. So he thought that gave him license to shoot her in her face and kill her.

The moment the agent fires, he is standing here to the left of the SUV and the wheels are pointing to the right away from the agent.

This appears to conflict with allegations that the SUV was ramming or about to ram the officer. President Trump and others said the federal agent was hit by the SUV, often pointing to another video filmed from a different angle. And it's true that at this moment in this grainy lowresolution footage, it does look like the agent is being struck by the SUV. But when we synchronize it with the first clip, we can see the agent is not being run over. In fact, his feet are positioned away from the SUV. The SUV crashes into a white car parked down the road.

A bystander runs toward the collision. The federal agents on scene do not appear to rush to provide emergency medical care.

Eventually, the agent who shot the motorist approaches the vehicle. Seconds later, he turns back around and tells his colleagues to call 911.

Shame. YOU SHOT SOMEONE. You shot someone. Agents block several bystanders who attempt to provide medical care, including one who identifies himself as a physician.

I go check a pole. No. Back up now. So, that last part that you saw, you have a man who says that he's a physician and he wants to just go check her pulse and they say no. Which is also something they're not supposed to do, you know, at this point. And especially given the fact we've had this conversation a million times in this country about law enforcement. And I I hate to have to make this disclaimer, but I think it should be obvious. No, not all police officers, not all those in law enforcement are bad people. Not all of them are dishonest. Not all of them use Americans as as target practice. This is all very true. But the structure of the system, especially with ICE that they are a part of, lends itself to this kind of recklessness.

What we already know from what's been reported about ICE is they're not exactly getting the best and the best. They're not exactly getting highly trained qualified people who should be in law enforcement, particularly since they dangled a $50,000 bonus and also the ability uh to perhaps excuse your student loans. It is inviting and wants to have the kind of people a me a member of this law enforcement agency that are reckless that are that have a disdain for its own citizens. Like you can't pro say you're protecting America when you hate the people that you're protecting.

And it's very clear in a lot of these situations they hate the people that they're protecting. So you have this rogue law enforcement force that again is wellunded and supported by a government that has made it clear that there are certain people in this country that are the enemy just simply because of what they look like. The Supreme Court gave ICE the ability to racially profile. Meaning that they could stop anybody on the street that they feel like doesn't fit the description of who is supposed to be an American. And I think you all can guess who that is. And it's not just Latinos.

It is also black people. It's also any of us. As I saw someone say on um social media in the last day or so is you might not be the appetizer or the entree, but you definitely on the menu. So, American citizens are also on the menu because this woman is an American citizen. She's a white woman living in Minneapolis who I believe is originally from Colorado. Mother of three. That's who became the target in this. and she became the target because when you have people who are amped up on this much power and have an administration that has told them that they have full immunity from whatever they're doing, this is exactly what you get.

This is exactly what you get. And I have a feeling in the years to come when there are documentaries done and deeper reporting done about who exactly is part of ICE where we've heard about them assaulting people that they've detained, physically assaulting them, sexually assaulting them. We've heard all of these horror stories already. You're going to find out that a lot of these people had no business at all being put in a position to quote protect citizens. And the shame of it is, especially for those of us, you know, who are black, who have been speaking about these kind of law enforcement abuses for years, if not decades, if not centuries.

is that we have now reached a point in this story and this plot where even and this is this is what is so this is what is so perplexing and also for some people so intoxicating about white supremacy because that's where all of this is rooted on. If you listen to Stephen Miller for two seconds, you know already what type of time he's on. He wants to e ethnically cleanse America. He has made no secret about this. So this addiction to white supremacy that this country has consider people like Renee Good to be just collateral damage and worth the price of preserving whiteness because that's all this is about. Not just specifically well whiteness as a concept but also specifically white male dominant power. That is all this is about.

I don't have it up, but you guys can go look at it on X. But Elon Musk literally, I think it was today or yesterday, he agreed with and retweeted somebody who said that there needs to be white solidarity because if white people lose control, essentially what's going to happen to them is the same kinds of crimes and oppression that they have inflicted on everybody else, which really what this entire what this entire experiment has been about. I wouldn't even call it an experiment. It's what it is the way of life in America. It is what it is. And and white people can try to deny it and run from it, but we I got way too many receipts, way too much evidence. It's too many books that have been written about this is that this entire exercise, this show of force.

It was it's about instilling fear, instilling order, and instilling submissiveness. because they want people to be scared. They want people to fear what's coming next because then you won't challenge authority. And in a way, that is what Renee Good was doing. She was challenging the authority of what was happening and it cost her her life. And so what we're going to find out as this continues is that this component of the government which let me just go off on a quick tangent. I remember I don't know if it was AOC as in uh Alexandria Okasio Cortez the the congresswoman from New York. I don't know if it was her, but I feel like she was among the earliest that was calling to abolish ICE or defund ICE. And naturally, of course, that is like red meat to people cuz people hear about defunding or abolishing a a law enforcement agency.

And everybody gets in their feelings about it because of course naturally in this country, we have been taught to give police the utmost respect uh respect and authority. So challenging the police is always for a politician considered to be a bad idea. and a lot of people came at her. And this is where to me the Democrats often lose is like they take these centrist positions of trying to tow the line and it leads to such supreme ineffectiveness and especially when it comes to trying to really destroy these systems of oppression. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that we shouldn't have any mechanism of of law and order. We need law and order. We need standards, but we also need due process. We also need to feel protected and safe in our own country and not as if somebody could just simply pull us up our vehicle for asking a question or for defying an order. Defying an order shouldn't

shouldn't result in you being shot twice in the face. And so, but that's the level of authorit of authoritarianism, excuse me, that we're in right now. is that anything considered to be defiant of what we see happening, the injustice that we see happening right now, there are too many people in this country that feel like you deserve to go out like Renee Good. Much to that point, the narratives are already starting on her because as I mentioned, uh she's a member of the queer community or at least has a partner. And as soon as I saw that detail, I already knew where it was going. and Jesse Waters who is a Fox News commentator or analyst or anchor who I think is a despicably horrible person cuz that's who he shows him to be basically every night on Fox people what he said about Renee Good

was a self-proclaimed poet from Colorado with pronouns in her bio a 37year-old white woman named Renee Good the Daily Mail says she leaves behind a lesbian partner and a child from a previous marriage She was a disruptor, though she considered herself a legal observer, but there's no evidence she had a law degree.

So basically, according to Jesse Waters, because she's a lesbian and used the pronoun that she deserved to be shot in the face. I mean, coming from him, I'm not surprised because again, he's a despicable person who just continually shows himself to be a horrible human being. I mean, and so now they can sell that narrative is that she was some kind of the the president, excuse me, the vice president of the United States already referred to this woman as a raging leftist. We don't know anything about her political beliefs. Nothing.

And to be clear, one of her neighbors who is also a friend was interviewed about who Renee Gold was. And even by the way, even if she was a leftist and you know she I don't know uh what kind of like even if she was a a leftist who was somebody who a tree hugger or whatever the way you want to describe or whatever visual cues come to mind when you think about a leftist even if she was that she didn't deserve to get shot in the face twice like that. She didn't deserve to be murdered on the street even if she was all those things. And so even worse was the vice president of the United States, JD Vance, calling her a radical and an extreme leftist.

I'm old enough to remember when Hillary Clinton had to basically go on an apology tour for calling those people who supported Trump deplorable. But the vice president and the president himself can call people on the left scumbag. He can uh call them radical. He can say any manner of words that he wants to say about people on the left. And people on the right will often come back and say, "Oh, I've heard worse from Democrats." And then they start referring to some comments on social media. See, the difference is Joe Biden wasn't calling the right some of the names that they might get called on. So, uh, on social media, Kla Harris wasn't calling them that. You have the two most powerful people in the country saying that some of their own citizens are scum.

And when somebody gives them the mildest criticism, they want to then start lecturing people about how words matter. Didn't we just have this whole discussion after Charlie Kirk about words and toning down uh you know the rhetoric in this country? Didn't we have that whole discussion where people Republicans lecturing people about their words? But it's okay to call again a portion of the country All of those things that I just said. See, this is this is what I'm talking about. Y'all call us Nazis. Okay. Again, when that comes when you point to me the place on the map where Joe Biden ever called people who support Donald Trump Nazis.

If I missed it, I will gladly apologize. And you guys, because some of y'all can't critically think because you're used to the your teacher in school because she often would hand you your paper face down. You don't understand the difference between somebody with a dog avatar on Twitter calling you or calling JD Vance or Donald Trump or anybody else a Nazi versus the president of the United States and the vice president. There's a very big difference in that. So you have two people in many of the Trump administration from Vance to Trump to Steven Miller who have who express their hatred towards Democrats all the time.

They don't even think Democrats and leftists should be able to exist in the same country as them. They don't even think they deserve to be here. So you can spare me your lectures about how people should talk about one another. So, in the aftermath of this woman's death, to be calling her some of the things that she's been called is disgusting. Period. Point blank. I don't care if she had 37 uh names in her pro or 37 pronouns in her profile. She could have had he, she, we, they, us, them. I don't give a damn how many pron pronouns it was.

Don't care. She's an American citizen who didn't deserve to be shot twice in the face in the street by a rogue unlawful unlawfully acting alleged law enforcement officer. Didn't deserve that. And if I is wondering why they have the reputation that they do, why everywhere they go people boo them, cuss them out, why Hilton recently cancelled their reservations, this is why.

Really, you [ __ ] punk. That's what you're going to [ __ ] do? What? What? What?

What? Do you know what the [ __ ] is that is for? What is that for? What is that for? Back up.

WHAT IS THAT FOR? YOU'RE GOING TO PUSH ME? WHAT IS THAT FOR? Back up. What was that for?

You don't give a [ __ ] about her? This is why we're here. Back up. This is why we're here.

Back up. What's her name? Renee. Good. Back up. And you [ __ ] That's a memorial to her.

That's a memorial to her. No, good. You're a [ __ ] coward. [ __ ] you guys. You guys are Nazis.

You [ __ ] shame on you guys. [ __ ] shame on you guys. You [ __ ] punk. Really?

Go with your [ __ ] That's what they [ __ ] want to do. Have a good time with this guy.

You're a little [ __ ] [ __ ] you guys. Find that [ __ ] badge. You're a coward. You little cop.

You're going to hell. Renee good is a mother that is standing up for our rights and was murdered. She was over observer.

Why we're here is because of cowards like you. So it's bad enough this woman has been killed. So then people of course feeling very emotional they build a memorial for her. This makeshift memorial and the ICE agent goes and just kicks it over. to which I say why why why it's like to quote my colleague at the Atlantic who wrote this wonderful piece that I strongly recommend you guys read one day the cruelty is the point where he talked about how this administration it isn't just about laws and policies and inflicting the most damage is making sure that all of these laws policies and mechanism inflict the most cruelty on top of the damage.

What that officer did was cruel. She's already dead. Y'all got what y'all wanted. Now you going to kick over her memorial. Like why? Just to be an [ __ ] Just because you can. Because you want to remind people at every turn who's really in charge and how anytime they have an interaction with you, your life does not matter to them. your life is firmly in their hands and they want to make sure that you understand that at every possible turn. And so now you have ICE agents unleashed in many parts of America, but especially in Minneapolis because once this story um and I say that almost tongue and cheek, I mean it really there was as we know there was some some daycare fraud happening uh in Minneapolis that was uncovered and revealed and reported on years ago and now is back at the forefront of the news because a YouTuber went around thinking he Batman out there with a camera tried to expose the fraud. So naturally,

because Donald Trump considers Tim Waltz, the running maker of Kla Harris, to be a political enemy, he is doing everything possible to disrupt to completely let the citizens of Minnesota know how little they matter to him because he needs to get his political vengeance on Tim Waltz. So now you have ICE running around in Minneapolis unhinged and out of control and shooting people and also showing up at Minneapolis's high schools and terrorizing cuz this was the scene today or maybe yesterday. [ __ ]

Damn. These [ __ ] ass [ __ ] bro. That wasn't That was a grenade. Damn. I don't want you guys to GET HURT.

OH YEAH. FOOTBALL, [ __ ] GUYS, GUYS, we're going to take you guys. They literally just killed someone.

Where kill you? [ __ ] you. [ __ ] MURDERER. You guys got to go. So now they're showing up at high schools in Minneapolis terrorizing high school kids. That school had to cancel classes the rest of the week because of the way they showed up. Teargassing people, trying to agitate and make sure again that they remind people that they can do whatever they want to them and there is no recourse. none. You know, I stopped asking that question. Is this the society we want to live in? I have stopped asking that question. I used to ask that question a lot after these kind of incidents like, oh, you know, trying to appeal to, you know, the better nature of everybody.

But I stopped asking that question. Is this the type of society that we want? because I think we've already given people the answer. And I hate to sound like a pessimist and sound like someone who has no hope. It's not that I don't have any hope. It's just that I'm very realistic. And I think the country has made a choice. People keep saying this like we're at some kind of crossroads that there's a we got two paths. We can go America this way or that way. But we already chose the path. Not everybody, but the path has already been chosen.

And so if we are under the illusion that all this stuff just magically goes away when Donald Trump is out of office, I think you are delusional. It is not going away. I mean, as it is, there's some form of this and worse forms of this that we've had to contend with in this country for centuries. We've been dealing with this for a long time. So this idea that we were ever close to being rid of it is just historically not true because we were not. But now we're in a new phase of this where between technology, media, the fact that so many of our laws, so many of the decorum that we've seen exhibited in our lifetime that we we were depending on something to hold up against an assault by someone like Donald Trump and his administration.

The institutions though are just institutions. They need people inside of them who actually care about them to enforce the principles of what this country is about. So, America, I hate to tell you, but you already made the decision about what kind of country we are and who we really are. That decision has been made, and now we're just going to have to live out the consequences of that decision. Because right now, I just don't see how, at least in my lifetime, I don't see how we get out of this. Because Donald Trump may be the person who engineered it, but his ideas and what he's implemented aren't new. These are old standing ideas that have always stood the test of time in this country.

Go back through Project 2025. And you will see the plan is firmly laid out. About half of it is complete much like everybody told you was going to be the case. And so yeah, it is it is going to be almost impossible for us to dig out of this. The office of presidency has changed. Our politics have changed. Now that we have probably given billionaires more money and more leeway and leverage than they've ever had, why would we expect that just removing one person, this is all going to go back to whatever you consider to be normaly anyway? It's not.

It's too late for that. And I is just a ICE is just a manifestation of all those things. This country again has a white supremacy problem, has had it for a very long time. And until it wants to deal with that problem, really attack that problem, dismantle that problem, America made the choice and it chose white supremacy. So here we are now. Um, on top of all those things, now that there's going to be a full wage campaign of again them trying to convince us that what we see is not what we saw. If you're expecting any semblance of justice, it's not happening. Nothing's going to happen to that officer.

There's still a great deal or many people who support the behavior and actions of ICE. And as we've seen too repeatedly in our politics and with the way citizens absorb politics, it's all fine and well till it comes to your doorstep. So I don't know how many doorsteps ICE has to come to. Uh because JD May made an illusion to the fact that they hope to one day have enough ICE officers so that they can come door to door. I'm sorry, what? So yeah, like this this isn't normal, but it's the new normal. If y'all get my drift, the new normal is you have to accept this authoritarianism.

You know, as we are reminded by Trump supporters all the time. This is exactly what I voted for. Okay, y'all going to deal with it a lot worse than you think you will. That's for sure. So, I'm saddened by this and even more saddened about the narratives, but unfortunately, we've seen this before where uh, you know, Renee Gold is about to become her character is going to be attacked just by the simple fact of that she's a lesbian, she's married to a woman, all those things are going to be on the table. So, I fully expect that she will undergo the same treatment that George Floyd did. And we've again seen this movie many many many times before and it's sad. Uh but unfortunately we seen intent on repeating the same mistakes that we always do. All right.

Uh it's no easy way to pivot after talking about something so heavy and serious. But I wanted to start to that before I got to some lighter things. Um because I don't I certainly don't want to end this live on a depressing note. As I mentioned, I was gone for a whole month um on the continent in Africa. When I told people I went to Africa, you know, some of the smart asses were like Africa is a continent. I I know that I went to multiple places. That's why I said I went to Africa and not one specific place because I went to multiple places. So, started the journey in Cape Town, South Africa. I've been to South Africa. The last time I was there was 15 years ago.

And um my husband surprised me by taking me to Cape Town cuz when I was there in South Africa 15 years ago, I went to Johannesburg. I went to a lot of other places in South Africa, but I never got a chance to make it to the Cape. And um because of that, he knew I wanted to see Cape Town in particular. Uh so I was very surprised. Obviously, it was a wonderful surprise. But before, you know, as I said, this is a milestone birthday for me. And the milestone is I turned 50. I'm not ashamed of it. It's a number that doesn't scare me in a lot of ways.

I am happy I am still here because there's a lot of people who aren't. A lot of people wish they could have made it to 50. So, I am embracing all of this. and to set the table for this trip and everything. One of the things that I wanted to do was embrace this next stage of my life as really confronting some of the things that made me uncomfortable. One of the biggest things that made me uncomfortable is I hate taking pictures. And I know you guys may see me in pictures and I may be smiling like, "Oh yeah, you know, this picture's great."

Trust me, I can't stand taking pictures. So, I said, you know what? I can't stand taking pictures, but I firmly believe in the Ferris Beller principle. Uh, great philosopher Ferris Beller, and he said you can never go too far. So, not only did I want to do a photo shoot for my 50th birthday, something I would have never wanted to do at any age is I said instead of just a regular photo shoot, I'mma get naked and do a photo shoot. I mean, it's an absurd idea. Of course, I talked to my husband about it and I said, I think I want to do a naked photo shoot. and he was really supportive and he said, "Hey, if that's what you want to do, um, hey, I support you." And I and I explained to him the cont the context, okay? It was going to be more implied nudity, not like fullon we going out, you know, not Hustler magazine nudity, but implied nudity. And I also wanted him to sort of be a a model for me,

which he was. And so I did it. Uh, my birthday is December 21st. So on December 21st, I released this photo. This is me buck naked. And again, not something I ever thought I would do, but I was like, "All right, let's let's let's kick off 50 with by doing something bold and daring." And so that was my bold and daring step into my 50s is by doing an implied new photo shoot. As you can see, you see some stuff, you don't see the good stuff. Uh, and we this photo shoot we were probably doing it. Man, that was a long day. That was a really, really long day. And of course, as you noted, I changed my hair and everything. And so, um, you know, that's not to say I'm done with braids. I may go back at some point, but for right now, I'mma ride this this I'mma ride this wave and see what happens. Uh, well, you can't tell my husband because he knows. He was actually there at the photo shoot. So, there's nothing he

doesn't know. And you're right, I am a Sagittarius and this is big big Sag energy for sure. Um, and so yeah, uh, that was sort of like my 50th birthday present to myself is to be naked. Now, as you'll see, my husband, as I said, he definitely knew this is this is uh, so we did the Janet Jackson. So, this is some of the um the behind the scenes footage of it where my husband is holding the holding the girls. Okay. So, again, he was fully on board uh with me doing this and I really appreciated his love and support. A lot of people, a lot of men wouldn't have gone for it and I wanted to make sure um that he was comfortable with it because if he wasn't, then I wasn't going to do, you know, I would have never done it, but he was completely comfortable with it. And so, um that made me comfortable with it. But what's not comfortable is when you're sitting on a concrete floor for like four hours

uh trying to do this and that it is not easy at all and then my leg is twisted in that way for for hours. Uh but it was I was so glad that I did this. I was very nervous you know despite the fact I picked my team of who would do this. Shout out to my girl Kai Bird. This is Kai Bird for uh photography. she did it and so um you know she made me really comfortable. It was it was a really good um experience and I was proud of myself for like going ahead and and and uh and putting myself through this. So, I was like, "Wow, this I knew that I wanted it to feel empowering and it absolutely felt empowering." And so, again, it just uh it was a great way to absolutely kick off my 50s. And uh yeah, you guys can if you want to see the other photos, the one especially the one of him grabbing the you know what, you can definitely go to my Instagram page. Uh all the all the photos are are are up there. And thank

you guys for the comments for being very complimentary. not an easy thing to do. Definitely gave me a whole new appreciation for models because when you have to stand a certain way and contort your body a certain way for a length of time, like that is not easy to do. So yeah, shout out to models. All right, here's D Love saying, "I turned 50 in May and skydive for my birthday." Um, you know, I thought about that actually briefly. Um, my husband, he had asked me, he wanted to skydive and I was like, "No." And I was like, you know what? I I can't go out like that. Sorry.

I mean, I I I'm happy to step outside of my comfort zone in some ways, but that would have just been a little bit too much. But for those of you who have milestone birthdays, and you don't have to wait till a milestone, I think birthdays are a great time to reset and force yourself to kind of do something a little different. force yourself because I don't the one thing I didn't I don't want as I age I don't ever want to be the old person that says I'm stuck in my ways. I want to always be able to have my mind change. I want to always see something new and different. I want to still find ways to make myself uncomfortable. So I did that. So did that photo shoot before the month-long journey to Africa. And you know, Africa as it always has been, this is my fifth trip to the continent.

I've been to Egypt. I've been to Ken uh to Kenya. I've been to Ghana and uh South Africa. Uh prior to this, been to Sey Shells. And so um you know, I've I've been there more than a few times. So it wasn't my first trip, but this time around it was Cape Town, Zanzibar, Ethiopia, and Maitius. All of which were absolutely wonderful. Uh Cape Town, if you haven't been there, first of all, everybody in their mama was in Cape Town. Uh they had a they had a couple big musical festivals. Gunonna was there. Wle was there. Um, a ton of people from America were in Cape Town because I spent New Year's Eve there and a little bit past that. And also the about the first second week of December I spent in Cape Town and and we was I didn't I didn't realize that we were going to take over in that in that fashion. Zanzibar absolutely beautiful.

Oh uh I was asked go how was the food? Okay, so let me tell you about the food and I'll look. Food was excellent across the board. Cape Town is a crazy good food town. I am now firmly putting in putting that on the list of top international food cities I've ever been to. I'm not saying that it's number one. It definitely made the top five. The seafood is incredible. I mean, it's right there off the ocean, right? So, you would expect the seafood to be great. I had what was it? King clipfish. Ate lobster for days. And as you imagine, like the prices there are friendly to uh American dollars. Uh that's for sure. And so I had a ton of excellent food there. Went to Robin Island where Mandela was in prison. And maybe one of these days too uh because I don't want this live to go on too long.

It is interesting and I I noted this before but it's changed even more so in the second trip to South Africa. So when I was there before in South Africa, Mandela was still alive. Being back there now, let's just say the opinions on Nelson Mandela by the black people in South Africa, specifically Cape Town, have changed a lot. And I'll say I just I'll just say that and it I think there's a lot of nuance there and about Mandela's legacy, but politically they helped me understand some things that I hadn't really thought about. And so some of those conversations were very very interesting. But anyway, Cape Town, great great food. Zanzibar, excellent food. Like all these places, the only place I didn't get to eat. So let me explain about Ethiopia. We had an overnight layover there. So I only spent about 12 hours in Ethiopia and we went to the club. And the Ethiopian club was amazing. Like went to the club uh cuz we

got there late. So we didn't get an opportunity to kind of do like a little bit more. But Ethiopia is definitely some place I go back to. But nevertheless, I feel like if you stop in a country, you have a drink there, you can say you went there. So I went there. Um, so at any rate, we go from there to Zanzibar. Zanzibar is gorgeous. I mean, gorgeous. Uh, went to Stone Town. Fun fact, I did not know about Zanzibar. Had no idea Freddy Mercury from Queen was born in Zanzibar. They have a huge Freddy Mercury Mercury house right in Stonetown in Zanzibar. So that we went to I was like I would have never guessed this in a thousand years that he was from there.

Um so went into Stone Town, took a DA cruise which was great. I mean it it's just so much culture, so much history. The food is exceptional. I mean the water is so blue. We went to a sand beach that was incredible. not a sand beach. Um I'm not saying the term right well for but it's like it's a it was a sand beach basically in the middle of the ocean and it was phenomenal. Um so just high marks across the board 10 out of 10. So from Zanzibar we go to Maitius and realize every one of these stops my husband never told me where I was going. So I didn't find out at every place we were going until we actually got to the airport. and and um so going to Maitius not what I expected. So naturally you you know you know you're in an African country first thing you think is majority black but Maitius is majority Indian and cuz my husband had to exchange some money and he got there and uh he we got there to and he's

looking at the money and ain't nobody black on the money cuz I was like we Africa right? No it was all Indian. Then I then I read about, you know, why the racial dynamics in Maitius are different compared to other African countries. Very interesting stuff. Saw a lot of things. Now, here is something that my husband is still laughing laughing at me about. So, we're in Maitius and one of the activities they suggest you do is swimming with the turtles, right? So, what do we do? I say, "Okay, let's go swim with the turtles." Now, I want you guys to turn your volume up and listen because at about the 11 12 second mark, you're going to hear a very distinct sound.

That sound is me. Boy, got you. Did y'all hear that scream? That scream was me. Why did I scream? Because a turtle actually bit me in the ass. That's why I screamed. I mean, who gets bit in the ass by a turtle but me. I I couldn't believe it. I was like, I that turtle that's snapping turtle came and took a chunk of my ass and I had a little um like a little mark on my on my cheek that Yeah. I mean, it happens to the best of us. But yes, I because So, as you see in the water there, what we're doing is like we're show we're they give you a container of food, right? So they give you a container of lettuce because turtles are vegetarians by the way in case you didn't know. And you know they see the food and they come running and so they surround you and you know as much as you think yeah that would be cute to swim with some turtles you surrounded by turtles and them things is snapping like they they going

for it. And I guess one of them thought my ass was a head of lettuce and and that was that. I'm just like, "No, man. I I It It was one of those ideas that sounded good until we got into the moment and it was like, "Nah, this uh I think I'm done swimming with turtles, swimming with um any wildlife of any kind. Yeah, not not going to do it." So, that is that's going to be a no, but I'm glad I say I experienced it. And uh excuse me. Luckily the mark has healed so I don't have to worry about it anymore. Um so that was just one of the many things that kind of happened there. But we we had a lot of fun, a lot of chilling. Um you know this was I think we were in I believe we we might have been in Zanzibar here.

uh where we found this amazing little beach club like right we're at P Beach and we found this amazing little beach club where you just sit there, chill, drink, eat. Uh it was it was really phenomenal. So I feel rested. I felt relaxed. I was right on the beach in uh Maitius. I mean we just had a heck of a good time. So yes, uh I am happy. I'm relaxed. I'm ready to confront um and talk about and discuss this crazy place called America, which I see hasn't hasn't changed much in a month. But anyway, you guys will be hearing more from me. I have some big announcements coming up. I want to say that before I get out of here, including um two podcasts that I will be launching. So stay tuned for more. Also, we'll be launching a newsletter.

Oh, wait. Let me answer this question real quick. Workout regimen. You mean on vacation? We I worked out once, my husband worked out twice. That was not the plan, but nevertheless, that became the plan. I actually bought more workout clothes and then I was just like, you know what? I'mma just chill. Um, but anyway, I have some big projects coming up that I can't wait to clue you guys in on. um uh in the podcast space. So, look out for that. But until then, everybody try to stay level. We got a lot going on, but maybe one day we will figure it out. So, y'all be easy. Make sure you like, subscribe, tell a friend.

Love you all and I'll see you soon.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "The Aftermath of Deadly ICE Shooting in Minneapolis"?

Jemele Hill (Host).

What is "The Aftermath of Deadly ICE Shooting in Minneapolis" about?

The content reflects on a personal journey of the speaker, who took a month-long vacation to Africa for a milestone birthday, seeking respite from the overwhelming chaos of the American news cycle. The speaker expresses a desire to disconnect from constant media consumption and admires those who can enjoy a more carefree existence, despite their own profession in journalism compelling them to…

What is mentioned in this Jemele Hill episode?

10 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including ICE, Zanzibar, milestone birthday, Jesse Waters, Mauritius, December. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "The Aftermath of Deadly ICE Shooting in Minneapolis"?

The episode runs 58 min; the transcript is about 9,108 words in 88 timestamped sections.

More from Jemele Hill

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 24, 2026.