Kyle Rittenhouse, the aspiring police officer who gunned down 3 people in Kenosha, Wisconsin, during a protest against racism and police brutality, is white. So were those he shot. But for many, his trial next week will be watched closely as the latest referendum on race & the American legal system.
“Make the connection,” said Justin Blake, a Black man whose nephew Jacob was a key part of the backstory of the case. “This is clearly Black & white.”
Rittenhouse was 17 when he used an AR-style semiautomatic rifle to kill 2 people and wound a third during the summer of 2020. He had gone to Kenosha, he said, to protect property from protesters who took to the streets in anger days after Jacob Blake was shot in the back by a white Kenosha officer.
Rittenhouse faces the equivalent of murder & attempted murder charges and could get life in prison. He has said he fired in self-defense after being attacked by protesters.
After the shooting, he drew sizable support from opponents of the Black Lives Matter movement & supporters of gun rights. Pro-gun conservatives helped raise $2 million for his bail and legal defense. After he got out of jail, he was photographed with apparent members of the far-right Proud Boys.
If Rittenhouse gets off, that would send an ominous message to Black America, Justin Blake said.
“If our country shows that you can shoot Caucasians who support us, then this country can never stand up in any international or global hearing and talk about human rights,” the uncle said. He said if Rittenhouse goes free, white people will be able to “ride down every African American community & just have fun, like you’re going hunting or something.”
Rittenhouse’s lawyers have said he is not a white supremacist & his defense fund has said he was not part of a militia group.
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