By Guy Page
Vermont Treasurer Michael Pieciak, bullhorn in hand, last week accused the U.S. government of “murdering” a Minneapolis activist. The accusation occurred on Thursday, January 8 at a Burlington demonstration organized of leftist organizations, including a communist group founded by a Chinese billionaire.
The use of the term ‘murder’ to characterize the January 7 shooting death of Renee Good also was employed by NYC mayor Zohran Mamdani and many other Progressive/socialist political figures and elected officials.
Pieciak is regarded as a frontrunner among Democrats to run for governor this year or in 2028. Good was shot to death by an ICE agent as the SUV she was driving bumped him, knocking him down. It is unclear whether Good intended the contact. Her wheels were turned and she may have slid into the agent. The incident is under investigation.
Pieciak, however, had no lack of clarity about the intentions of the ICE agent when he addressed a Burlington crowd comprised of members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation Vermont, whose website claimed involvement as “more than 1000 Vermonters marched to the Federal Building to demand justice for Renee Nicole Good, who was murdered by ICE agent [name omitted by editor] on Wednesday.”
“She’s not going home to live her life because our government murdered her,” Pieciak told a large crowd in front of the federal building on Elwood Avenue. A TV news report quoted a PSL member at the demonstration: “‘Donald Trump’s use of ICE as an army to keep people in line has been in line with what every administration has done before him. It’s what ICE is there to do: keep migrant workers from being able to organize and to rip up families, that’s what they do best,’ said Vivan Bose-Pyne with the Party for Socialism and Liberation.”
PSL – whose state affiliates also participated in demonstrations in New York and other large cities, according to news reports – believes that only revolution can end capitalism and establish socialism. According to news and online sources, PSL and its affiliates are partially funded by Neville Roy Singham, a billionaire businessman and admirer of the Chinese Communist Party.
Also in attendance at the Burlington demonstration were members of Indivisible and other Progressive, anti-Trump advocacy groups.