Soft-spoken and definite of purpose, soccer mom and real estate agent Beth Goodman notes with a laugh how lightning has a habit of following her around. Last Wednesday morning, at about 7:15 a.m., lightning struck again, this time with a blast of pepper spray right in Goodman’s face.
Three ICE agents showed up for early morning action at the Eastside intersection of Carpinteria and Salinas streets, a place where many parents pass while taking their kids to nearby Franklin Elementary. At the same time, Goodman was on mom-squad patrol, passing out flyers notifying residents about what resources might be available should they be stopped by ICE, when she stumbled onto a noisy, honking, shouting, whistling scrum of ICE agents, protesters, neighborhood residents, and city cops.
Goodman had just gotten out of her car when she saw a masked ICE agent walking straight toward her. She was armed with her cell phone camera and hit the video button. “Move,” he shouted. “Get out of my way.” Goodman didn’t budge. It was a public street. If he wanted to get in his car, nobody was stopping him. “Take off your mask!” she shouted back. She shouted that three times. How loud? “I yell in soccer matches,” explained Goodman, who has four adult soccer-playing kids. “I wasn’t yelling.”…