Photos and words by Sean Rayford

*All photos made Thursday, January 8, 2026 in Columbia, South Carolina. (Sean Rayford)*

“We’re gonna march in the same fashion — back in the same direction. So if you can get behind me - I’m gonna speak really loud so we can be safe on these streets… WHOSE STREETS?” shouted Carey Shofner on Thursday night in Columbia, South Carolina.

“OUR STREETS!”

The call and response ignited, the group of demonstrators walked south on Main Street back to the statehouse.

“JUSTICE FOR RENEE GOOD!

Justice for Renee Good!

ICE OUT OF OUR NEIGHBORHOOD!

Justice for Renee Good!”

Sandwiched between downtown courthouses and City Hall, a demonstrator had just read poem by Renee Good, who was shot and killed by an ICE officer in Minneapolis the previous day.

The poem, “On Learning to Dissect Fetal Pigs,” won The Prize for Undergraduate Poetry by The American Academy of Poets in 2020.

“Renee attended Old Dominion University where she won a poetry prize for this poem,” said a protestor into a bullhorn, “So when you hear her talked about in other media sources describing her life, remember what she contributed. And remember that along with leading a very peaceful life and trying to protect her fellow humans — she was also a celebrated poet.”

The words of Good, from Minneapolis, boomed over the now quiet crowd.

“Remember more the slick rubber smell of high gloss biology textbook pictures; they burned the hairs inside my nostrils,

& salt & ink that rubbed off on my palms.

under clippings of the moon at two forty five AM I study&repeat

ribosome

endoplasmic—

lactic acid

stamen”

Organizations endorsing the protest at the South Carolina Statehouse included 50501 SC, Midlands SC Defensa, and the Party for Socialism and Liberation.

To read Good’s poem, it’s available on the Poets.org website.