#BlackLivesMatter revives in America: What’s Happening in Kenosha, Wisconsin?
In the midst of the protests, on Tuesday, August 25, two people died and another was injured in a firearm attack, allegedly perpetrated by an armed “white vigilante”
The #BlackLivesMatter movement revives in America. The epicenter of the protests is Kenosha County, Wisconsin, although they have already spread to other cities. The governor of that entity, Tony Evers, decreed a “state of emergency” and threatened to deploy more military troops to contain the “looters and arsonists” who — he assures — act against public buildings and companies.
The protests were rekindled on Sunday, August 23, after a video of a white officer from the local police department shooting seven times a black man in the back was broadcasted on social networks. The victim was identified as Jacob Blake, who remains hospitalized, paralyzed from the waist down. His family revealed that he will most likely never walk again
The video, taken by a passerby, shows 29-year-old Blake walking around a car on the street as several police officers surround him. While trying to get into his vehicle through the driver’s door, an officer opens fire and shoots him.
A report in The Guardian quoted civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who disclosed that Blake’s three young children were in the car when the crime occurred. “They saw a policeman shoot his father”, he wrote. “They will be traumatized forever. We cannot allow officers to violate their duty to protect us. Our children deserve better”, he added.
According to US media, the agents were called to an address on Sunday after a woman reported that “her boyfriend was present and was not supposed to be at the facility”.
Blake’s lawyers argued that their client was trying to “mitigate a domestic incident” when the police drew their weapons. While there, they tried to arrest him, initially using a taser gun. But after Blake opened the car door, Officer Rusten Sheskey, who had been active in the Police Department for seven years, shot him seven times in the back.
The “official” reactions
The police force only said that the officers responded to a report of domestic violence, although the complaint did not involve Blake, according to his lawyers.
Meanwhile, the Wisconsin Department of Justice is investigating the case and assured that the agents involved “have been placed on administrative leave”. At the end of the investigation, they will hand over their findings to a prosecutor, who will be in charge of deciding whether to continue with the case.
On Monday, Josh Kaul, the state attorney general, said: “We are going to vigorously and thoroughly investigate the facts of this case … Our search for justice will be unwavering”.
Two days later, Kaul confirmed at a press conference that Officer Rusten Sheskey shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back as he opened his car door. He added that officers found a knife in the car, but no other weapons.
Federal investigation in Wisconsin?
At the same time, the Justice Department has launched a federal investigation and has already sent 200 FBI agents and sheriffs to Kenosha.
For his part, President Donald Trump responded as his people are accustomed to: threatening the protesters with sending more National Guard troops to fight “looting, arson, violence and lawlessness in the streets”.
Hours later, Gov. Tony Evers followed suit, warning that he was authorizing 500 soldiers to support police efforts amid “concerns” about increased violence.
In that same path, they were followed by prosecutor Kaul, who described the violence in the streets — but not the orderly repression — as “despicable”. He even went so far as to say that some people “involved in destructive activities are not from the city of Kenosha or the state of Wisconsin (…) All they are doing is creating chaos”.
Street protests
The crime immediately provoked a wave of protests in Wisconsin that has raged throughout the week, some of them violent. Likewise, the demonstrations have reached other cities such as Portland, Oregon and Minneapolis, Minnesota.
In fact, Minnesota was the location for the rebirth of the #BlackLivesMatter movement at the end of May, after the murder of an unarmed African American, George Floyd, suffocated by a white policeman with his knee, while the citizen was immobilized on the pavement.
Sadly, amid the protests in Kenosha, on Tuesday August 25, two people were killed and another injured in a firearm’s attack allegedly perpetrated by an armed “white vigilante”.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that it was a clash between protesters and gunmen, who claimed they were “securing” a gas station.
Racist violence unleashed
The video circulating on social media shows a young white man, holding a rifle, fleeing from a group of protesters after the first shots were fired. The footage appears to show this man falling to the ground and then firing multiple shots at this group. Then two other people fell, The Guardian reported.
Following this incident, police arrested 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse in Antioch, Illinois, who will be charged with the crime of first degree murder. His victims were two people aged 26 and 36.
A spokesperson for the Wisconsin Professional Police Association told the BBC that individuals and groups were exercising their own form of “vigilantism”, because for them law enforcement is ‘all over the place’.
In this regard, the governor of Wisconsin renewed his push for police reforms to limit misconduct by law enforcement. For this reason, he signed an executive order that orders state legislators to meet in a special session on August 31 to evaluate nine police reform bills.
Wisconsin “White Watchers”
A Facebook group, which refers to itself as the Kenosha Guard, urged its followers to head downtown and “defend” the city, noted the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “Any patriots willing to take up arms and defend [our] city tonight from evil thugs? [No doubt] They are currently planning for the next part of town to burn down tonight! “.
The group is virtually unknown and it is unclear if it exists beyond Facebook. Its founder, Kevin Mathewson, 36, is a former local councilman known for clashing with city officials. This week, he said the Kenosha Guard is less of a structured organization than a “general call to arms”.
In addition, he claimed that he and other gunmen first gathered near the protests at the Kenosha courthouse on Tuesday night. Later, they dispersed in different directions, with some returning to their homes to monitor their neighborhoods.
The Guardian reported that the group declared that they “did not know” if Rittenhouse was responding to the “call to arms of the Kenosha Guard Militia”.
For now, a night curfew was decreed in the city, from 7:00 p.m. local time, until 7:00 a.m. next Sunday. Community leaders have urged people to respect the curfew.
Even Blake’s family made an emotional defense of the value of life. Despite the terrible situation they are experiencing, they called for an end to the violent protests that broke out in Wisconsin, reported HispanTV.
Julia Jackson, Jacob’s mother, called for unity and said she was praying for the police officers. However, she was disappointed by the unrest. “It does not reflect my son or my family (…) If Jacob knew that this is what is happening, the violence and the destruction, he would be very upset”.
The last thing known of Blake is that he is paralyzed from the waist down, possibly permanently. He has holes in his stomach, damage in his kidney and liver, and his colon and small intestine may need to be removed, according to his lawyers.
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