On Sunday, Jacob Blake was shot by Kenosha police officer Rusten Sheskey seven times in the back, in front of his three children who were in the car. Jacob Blake did not die. He was rushed to the hospital, and he is still in critical condition and itâs believed that if he survives, he will be paralyzed. Rusten Sheskey and the other police officers involved in this horrible f–king crime were put on administrative leave immediately, but no criminal charges have been filed. The Department of Justice launched a probe last night (more than 72 hours later). Do not even start with âJacob Blake had a knife in his car.â We donât know if Officer Sheskey knew that Blake had a knife in his car, we donât know if the knife was planted, and besides that, carrying a knife in oneâs car is not a crime punishable by being shot seven times in the back on the street.
The aftermath of an attempted extrajudicial murder of another Black person has led to massive racial justice protests in Wisconsin and around the country. Let me tell you, the Wisconsin police departments are handling it badly and they were already escalating situations before a 17-year-old named Kyle Rittenhouse entered the picture. Rittenhouse came into Wisconsin from another state, fully armed, and then he started shooting Black Lives Matter protesters Tuesday night. Rittenhouse was allowed to leave the state after he murdered citizens on Wisconsin streets, and he was only begrudgingly arrested by the police yesterday. The cops made it clear that they believe Rittenhouse – who should be considered a domestic terrorist – is one of them. Itâs also clear that the Kenosha police departmentâs official position is that Rittenhouseâs crimes only happened because Black people wanted justice for Jacob Blake.
This police chief said a white 17 year old murdered two people âto resolve a situationâ and that âpeople shouldnât be out after curfew.â We see how police protect and act as accomplices to white assailants from the start. This is so racist and sick, yet on brand for police. https://t.co/1idQVxB2eq
— Trevon D Logan (@TrevonDLogan) August 26, 2020
Unsurprisingly, Rittenhouse is MAGA and very much a âBlue Lives Matterâ douche. Buzzfeed found footage of Rittenhouse in front-row attendance at one of Donald Trumpâs Nazi rallies. The fact that the Kenosha police thanked him, an armed teenage vigilante, AFTER he shot three people, is something which should not be forgotten.
I wonder why a deranged white nationalist Trump supporter would show up to a protest with a rifle and start shooting people. https://t.co/gL1zpgj8J2
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) August 26, 2020
Stop what youâre doing and listen to Jacob Blakeâs sister, Letetra Widman.
âI stopped crying years ago…I am numb…I have been watching police murder people who look like me for years.âpic.twitter.com/dIMIMjmS6V
— Arjun Sethi (@arjunsethi81) August 26, 2020
Suspected teen gunman Kyle Rittenhouse spotted cleaning Kenosha graffiti before shooting https://t.co/Cm2t1DFqws pic.twitter.com/lFgz8qh7cC
— New York Post (@nypost) August 27, 2020
On Monday night, Trump gave his national platform to a white man who used an AR-15 to terrorize BLM protesters.
On Tuesday night, a white man used an AR-15 to murder two BLM protesters.
But please, carry on praising RNC optics.
— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) August 26, 2020
Photos courtesy of social media.
I am not visiting America in the foreseeable future because I donât think I will be safe.
I pray for you guys because you have a lot to do. The tweet below shows just how much damaged the country is.
https://mobile.twitter.com/KristenClarkeJD/status/1298649969780563969
Also not visiting (which means not giving them your money) is a clear stand against fascism. Other areas could be boycotting American products. How Americans have allowed their country to fall this far and this low is beyond me, but here we all are.
Thatâs incredibly insulting. Like INCREDIBLY insulting.
I agree completely. We have been sanctioned in Canada on our softwood, to which our minister basically replied with a big FU. America has fallen so low it’s awful to watch. It’s scary too, because now we see other countries acting out the same racist behaviour. If trump isn’t ousted I fear for America – not sure how it could get worse but it will.
@Betsy I’m sorry you see it that way, but I have zero tolerance for fascism. For me what’s insulting is people being indiscriminately murdered by terrorists, children locked up in cages and other people carry on as if it’s normal
But Betsy, where is the lie in it?
@Betsy, idk, as a fellow American, it’d be nice if people started to hold our government accountable, and perhaps for more of our citizens to realize how we’re perceived on the world stage.
@Myra – newsflash, the majority of America hates fascism. Trump is in office because Russia attacked our election. If you think that canât and wonât happen where you live you are in deep denial.
No, Myra, the insult is in your thinking that we somehow all agree with this. Itâs incredibly vile and insensitive, and I wonder which other victimized groups youâd blame for the state of something.
@KL – it would be, wouldnât it? Do you have some suggestion as to how we can counteract and dismantle the right wing propaganda machine that has led a sizable minority of our population off a mental cliff, break up the media monopolies that mean that âmainstream mediaâ is Republican-friendly guff, undo voter suppression and gerrymandering.
@Mac – thank you.
Russia is waging a deadly, asymmetrical war against America and people are refusing to acknowledge it.
@Mac Of course it can happen in my country and authoritarianism did happen once. It took a lot of fight to get rid of it (some sadly lost their lives). Take a guess which country boycotted us during those times. The United States. At the time, it stood as a bastion for democracy and rights for us. We believed in its ideals and wanted the same for our country. And while I appreciate that the majority of Americans are against the ideals of fascism, 62m people still voted for it. That’s 62m, too many. I’m well aware of the role Russia played in the 2016 US elections and in other elections around the world including Brexit. But the conditions were already ripe in the US, making it too easy for a foreign actor to take advantage of.
@Betsy I feel like this is similar to the NotAllWhitePeople defense. 62m people is a lot of Americans for me but if you prefer I specify some Americans, then fair enough
@Betsy – you know what’s truly insulting? That a 17 year-old fascist who shot three people with an assault rifle, two of whom died, didn’t get arrested by white police officers until 3 days after the shooting. It’s insulting that a country like America is allowing their citizens to die in droves because they’ve mishandled the pandemic and denied medical care to millions. It’s insulting that the GOP, with a few sane exceptions, are marching lockstep with a criminal president and his supporters who are enriching big business and watching while normal, low-middle class citizens are having to move into their cars or onto the street because their so-called financial aid for those who’ve lost jobs and income and CANNOT EAT is NOTHING. It’s insulting that little children are being separated from their parents AND BEING PUT IN CAGES. What’s happening in America is apocalyptic. We don’t mean to paint every last citizen in America with the same ugly brush, and there are many wonderful CBers on this site who are good, intelligent, thoughtful and compassionate Americans, but I too am boycotting any travel to America and will not buy American products.
@Betsy – I’m American and this isn’t insulting. The US as a country has led embargos to pressure regimes on human rights issues, Americans have boycotted & divested from companies & countries for the same reason. Why shouldn’t it be done to us?
@Myra I too found your comment incredibly callous, myopic, and insensitive. I have voted in every election since I turned 18 (straight ticket democrat). I have voted in every primary election (straight ticket democrat). I have protested on multiple occasions (during a pandemic) because black lives matter. I actively donate to my local chapter of the NAACP, Planned Parenthood, and the HRC. Your comment reads like we have somehow ALLOWED fascism to take hold in this country when, for most of us, we have fought tooth and nail to avoid this outcome and deeply mourned the results of the 2016 election. Instead of pointing fingers, I would recommend exercising a little empathy for those of us who have to live under this tyranny.
I understand how my words caused hurt because it invalidated each of your own individual experiences and efforts to fight off fascism. I donât lack empathy for you, I am actually saddened by of all the deaths and senseless suffering. This video brought me to tears last night, just like the one in May. I am angry that many black Americans have to live under daily threats as if they have to beg for their dignity. I am angry because children were stolen from their parents, locked in cages and eventually lost in a system. If you prefer I say some Americans, fair enough. But I hope you can recognise that 62m is still a lot of Americans willingly casting their ballot for fascism. For me, a country which once represented democracy that is too many Americans voting for it. My sentiments that the US has fallen so far and so low remains unchanged. I also feel that a lot of people put up a black profile pic and weeks later moved on. It feels a bit surreal at times. It reminds me of the “MusĂ©e des Beaux Arts” poem. Like the US has two different worlds coexisting at the same time.
I have half of my family up there, a marriage is coming. I cannot bring myself to go renew my traveling docs. We have terrible violence in my country, but knowing what is going on in the US is really painful, I cannot even read the news anymore.
Myra, thatâs respectfully a very toxic position to take. Majority of Americans are horrified by whatâs happening. Also, way to turn your back on a friend when the friend needs help.
@Betsy
No, but I never said I did. I said it would be nice for our government to be held accountable in any way, which includes economically, and more of our citizens to realize how toxic our laws and cultures are perceived to be, beyond “well, I didn’t vote for 45” or “the alt-right is nasty, but not anything I’m involved with!”
Ironically, if there were economic consequences for the majority of American citizens, or a boycott of American goods or travel to the states, I’m fairly sure all those issues you mentioned WOULD be addressed. Because if children can be gunned down in schools and nothing happens, unarmed Black citizens can be murdered by the police with impunity, and yet — AND YET — you think a BOYCOTT is insulting… then perhaps people like you require the perspective that this is far bigger than a single president, ruinous as he has been and as ruinous as his actions and his party will continue to be for this country. It’s like white privilege when confronting racism: even if you or I don’t directly participate or encourage this country’s priorities, we still potentially benefit from them on some level. So why should it insult you to STOP benefiting, if you really disagree? Surely a temporary setback can be accepted with the greater goal in mind? Surely you can understand sacrificing a little comfort or standing for in order for justice to be recognized as a base necessity, one our country keeps failing to provide?
@Myra – tens of millions of Americans have fought for civil rights and continue to do so today. It is downright disgusting for you to suggest people put up a profile of a black person and forget about it week later. I donât know what propaganda your country is feeding but you donât know what the hell you are talking about. Trump didnât run as a fascist, but once he was legitimized by Canada, the UK, the EU, Japan, South Korea, and China he began acting on his worst impulses.
@Mac I believe you misunderstood me. I was refering to BlackOutTuesday and how I noticed some people quickly moved on from discussions on racial injustice. I never said all people moved on from it. All my news on the United States come directly from the US. While I may not reside in my country right now, neither countries are selling propaganda about the US. The perception of the US comes directly from consuming US media. Lastly, while you may not have recognised it for such at the time, he most certainly ran on a platform of nationalism, anti-immigration sentiments, pro law and order and anti-press when he ran. I immediately recognised it for what it was. The most telling sign was when he said he could shoot someone and not lose support.
My last comment on this will be the issue of consumer boycott. It was applied to fight apartheid in South Africa. I’m not turning my back against a friend, I am fighting fascism the only way I know how
@pottymouth pup – where did I say those tools shouldnât be used against us? I didnât. I objected to Myra shoving us all in the same ditch of âlet this happenâ to the country and I stand by that objection.
Look, I donât know what to do. There are dark forces behind dark forces here and it feels like my piddly efforts over the years and especially now means naught. There are so many areas in which these groups have slowly destroyed everything and all the people who have played the âwell, both sidesâ are guilty af in this slow slide toward fascism. People have been warning about this all my life, saying that it was a slippery slope, and people rolled their eyes, called them extremists and chided that âboth sidesâ were at fault when in fact only one side is actually fascist.
“Majority of Americans are horrified by whatâs happening. ”
Are they really, though? A slight majority are against what is happening, but a very large portion of our country (around 35-43%) fully support this corrupt administration.
A LOT of Americans are horrified, but not nearly enough. Trump’s ratings are too high for people to act like the citizens of America aren’t enabling this brutality. Did you totally miss the RNC?
@myra “Like the US has two different worlds coexisting at the same time.”
This is exactly right, there is a disturbingly large portion of my fellow Americans living in some alternative conservative reality and it’s terrifying. So many of us are taking action to boot Trump from office in November, but even then there is much work to do in our country to address deeply ingrained and long-existing issues. I welcome the rest of the world holding us to account, who watches the watchers, right?
Can’t believe you’re all going #notallamericans on Myra. She’s not wrong and as a country, the US is failing. Hard. It’s looking bizarre and horrendous from the outside, to be frank. As a group, Americans are not looking great. As a group, white people everywhere are not looking great. As a group, men are problematic as f*ck. Own it. Like I have to own sh*t as a white woman, for example. Feeling incredibly insulted doesn’t help.
@TIffany – majority means more than 50%. 60-63% of the country isnât âslight majorityâ either. Sure, about a third of Americans are racist assholes, but Iâm not going to write off the whole country because of that. Their voices are being amplified because Trump is one of them.
Iâm absolutely shocked by that video. The corruption is shocking!
He travelled, deliberately travelled, to kill people. And that was ok with that âpoliceâ force?
Rittenhouse aspired to be a police officer. He was a junior cadet or whatever program/indoctrination they offer young kids to get them interested and engaged in law enforcement, which used to be about general public safety. Assault weapons are presumably not part of the program (officially anyway).
But this is what happens when ignorance and right wing propaganda converge. Throw in the NRA, who has managed to convince millions that people will kill you at a moment’s notice unless you are armed to the teeth, and this is where we are.
As an American, I have been watching this horror unfold over decades. I have volunteered in the gun violence prevention movement and it is tragic that doing so is considered “radical” and “controversial.” That is how brainwashed people are about guns.
Black people have been telling you about this for years.
I stopped vacationing there after Trump got elected. Glad we never moved to America for work either. Between coronavirus, the attack on democracy via the postal service and all of the murders on black lives? Itâs been terrifying.
I hear you. I was at a team picnic with my son’s college rowing team two years ago (in Michigan) and one of the moms was talking about how her son was going to do a semester abroad and speculating about which countries would be safest. I made a remark along the lines of “I wonder how many parents abroad don’t want to send their students here anymore,” and the appalled silence from the other parents was telling.
As a Canadian I also made the decision not to visit the USA shortly after Trump took office and it became clear that things were headed down a misogynistic, racist path. I have many American friends and have traveled there dozens of times. I love the country and all the people that I know and my heart breaks for them. But I cannot in my heart have a vacation and enjoy myself in a place where such horrors are going on around me. In addition, I no longer trust the systems to support me if something happened while I was there. I am just so sad to see what is happening to a country I have loved, that is full of people who deserve so much better. đ
I’d gladly move to Europe, New Zealand, or Canada, but I’m a single, impoverished 55-year-old woman whose work history as a nanny, administrative assistant, and call center agent doesn’t qualify me for immigration to any of those places.
Elizabeth, get an LPN diploma, takes 2 years. You can do a lot of it online. The world will be yours. Coming from a woman who went back to school at 50 for nursing, specifically so I would be able to go wherever I wanted in the world and always have work. I’m 57 now (it was a bumpy ride) and just about to write my licenscing exam. It can be done!
Elizabeth–check out the subreddit /rGetOut (on Reddit obvs). Lots of tips for, well, getting out of America. As with Louise’s fantastic recommendation, I think you might be surprised at what options you have available as a single woman.
@betsy
Youâre insulted foreigners donât want to deposit money in your country?! THATS insulting to you?
Well if the self-aggrandizing stereotype fits…
Raise, Riot, Fight- do whatever it takes to stop the greatest menace to Peace: racist white people.
The greatest menace to peace is hatred.
Blase2 and ignorance. And fear.
The lengths to which the MAGA crowd are going to paint this kid as “just protecting property” or “defending himself” infuriate me. Fcker Carlson had a screed last night about how it is perfectly ok for a 17 year old to show up with an AR15 to defend property and with all the looters and anarchists, what should we expect from proud Americans? This pic of him doing community service is meant to soften his image (pro-MAGA NYPost) and make it look like he shot people in self-defense, but the most effective self-defense would have been for him to keep his pasty ass at home in Illinois.
Yes to all of this. Carlson’s bit was abhorrent. And as Chris Murphy pointed out in the tweet Kaiser posted, we have GOP lawmakers encouraging this.
Carlson is a KKK grand poobah and he needs to go. Let’s all get serious, and boycott his corporate sponsors. Here is a list of them that has been gathered:
https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/tucker-carlson-backlash-kenosha-shooting-fox-news-1234750361/
Dude’s gotta go. For one concrete action, I am contacting Hulu today and letting them know I am cancelling because they advertise on the KKK daily, and to get back to me when they stop.
this kid who has a record, a drug problem and a mom who drove him to another state to be a vigilante (and better be charged as an accomplice)
For sure that will be what they try however this minor packed a gun in his car and crossed state lines to murder people.
Yes, it isn’t “defending yourself” when people are chasing you because you just murdered someone. They were trying to disarm an active shooter.
I am so infuriated by this story. I was up way too late arguing with racists about due process and extrajudicial executions. The fact that this kid can just stroll around with an illegally possessed gun and then murder people with a thanks from the cops is driving me insane. Iâm headed to a protest today because a mile from my house a black man was beaten by police and arrested for trying to redeem a winning lottery ticket. The clerk claimed the ticket was fake. Security cameras show that the man did purchase the ticket at that store the day before and that the store was knowingly selling expired tickets. The police apologized to the man and charges were dropped. We donât want an apology, we want justice. We want the officers involved to be fired and stripped of pensions. I just canât anymore and Iâm not a black man or the mother/wife/sister/ daughter of a black man. Iâm so sorry for what this country puts you all through.
Thanks for sharing this story Aang. People need to know this isn’t just limited to the incidents the national news picks up. This is happening every single day. All over the country. I hope that man sues the jurisdiction in which those officers are employed.
I’m infuriated with people actually arguing with me about how bad a guy Jacob Black (restraining order from g/f, they had tasered him). IF that’s true it doesn’t matter, he was shot in the back 7x. How is that the only option left to the police? We have him getting shot/others killed while white armed men/women roam the street with their military gear with no consequences?
I’m sorry to say though that it’s resonating uncomfortably in my white suburbs and others. They hate being called racist but they are. Anyone that supports Trump is doing it out of racism excuses aside.
when cops have shown, repeatedly, that they can avoid shooting white people who are shooting at them while they continue to brutalize unarmed &, sometimes unconscious/pharmacologically paralyzed, Black people who are complying with them and are not a clear threat to their lives, it’s no wonder why Black people don’t always comply. They know damn well they’re just as likely not only to get brutalized/murdered but to get blamed for forcing cops to try to kill them
Holy f*ck, I have no words. I am stunned but not surprised that the cops thanked him, this is Trump’s America.
I’m not much into conspiracy theories, but at this point I honestly believe that police are working with white supremist groups to start and agitate violence. Many police officers are covert members of white supremist hate groups. This just helps feed into the whole Trump/MAGA law enforcement mantra. The police will actively do what it takes to get Trump re elected. They want white people to be afraid and give them permission to vote for Trump again. After all, “he alone can protect you.” Never mind, the pandemic and natural disasters happening all around the country and Trump not giving a fuck about that. It’s only about saving the innocent white people from the angry, violent black people.
“Iâm not much into conspiracy theories, but at this point I honestly believe that police are working with white supremist groups to start and agitate violence.”
THEY ARE. there is footage of one of the other MAGAts at that protest who said that they cops said they’d push the protesters toward the armed militia members so they could “do their thing” and that they (the cops) would just leave. and that is EXACTLY what happened. they coordinated and organized WITH THE COPS to make this happen. after he shot and killed those people, he walked right up to the cops with his hand on his gun and they just drove off. F*CK THE POLICE. NWA was right all those years ago. Black folk knew, it’s just now the public at large is seeing it unfold in real time.
Same and same. Recently there was looting in Chicago on the high profile Mag Mile and I have no trouble believing the police/white supremacist groups instigated it. Details of the shooting that supposedly precipitated it are sketchy and conflicting, and the way the looters were able to travel miles to Michigan Ave was way too methodical and organized to be a spontaneous event. Video also showed police doing nothing while looting occurred — enabling the creation of news footage of wild looting that MAGAts like to hold up as examples of failures in “Democrat run cities.”
They’re killing several birds with that stone here in Chicago: fearmongering, propping up Trump and the Feds as the savior we need, setting up the black female mayor they have despised from day one for failure and a single term.
It seems to be a given that white supremists have infiltrated police departments just as they have infiltrated the U.S. military. People need to open their damn eyes and see reality.
Oh it’s no conspiracy theory, it’s the truth. Trump sends in covert white mercenary militia in a very organized fashion to stir things up. This is fascism at it’s most awful level.
It’s true. In Compton, they found a number of police officers with the same white supremacist “executioner” gang tattoo.
Someone posted recently that having police arrest white supremacists is like asking Hannah Montana to arrest Miley Cyrus. đ€
American law enforcement is rooted in recovering runaway slaves. Racism is built into the structure of their training & culture. There’s usually NO training on implicit bias (all the media signals that tell us Black men are dangerous) or how neurodiversity changes behavior (dementia, autism, mental illness etc.) Training is often minimal & in Minneapolis it has included outdated, dangerous models of interrogation & arrest. There’s also been little proof training to deescalate difficult situations.
We need new systems that address the “Root Causes of Crime”: poverty, addiction, generational trauma, lack of access to good education, healthcare & mental health support, food & housing instability, arrests for petty crimes, despair. Find books or organizations (local to you preferably) that are working on defunding, dismantling or abolishing police. You don’t have to agree with everything you find, but you’ll understand the law enforcement systems better, the school to prison pipelines & what we’re all up against.
Defunding can mean reallocating some police funding into teams who respond to calls that don’t require an armed response: social workers, addiction specialists, mental health aids. We have SO many local examples of situations where someone calls 911 for a health or mental emergency, ambulance requested, but no police please, police show up anyway & make things so much worse.
Defunding does not have to mean no police presence at all. It can mean officers are one part of a Community Safety Organization that has a clear system of accountability, which is a HUGE issue here, and work together with a multidisciplinary group that includes neighborhood liaisons who live in the communities being served.
If there’s anything I’ve learned during quarantine & the social uprising, it’s how very much we are connected to each other. If you are suffering, your family suffers, your community suffers. We need to lift each other up & if we all do our part, the load won’t feel so goddamned heavy. I’m all in. Let’s go. Peace.
Well I hope the GOP is satisfied. A 17 year old kid killed 2 people and ruined his life because of their propaganda. Well done Mitch! Well done.
Oh hell the pos kid will probably not only make money but become a celebrity fox and gop star. Itâs not just the police culture, itâs fox and more even the GOP. I do think we need to fire every cop and start over. Think how many of them stand by and do NOTHING! Or protect them.
no, that kid is going to jail. he may get interviews and/or a book deal, but he’s going to prison and they BETTER keep in protective custody because he’s going to be #1 on the list for jailhouse justice.
Scollins, they had the St. Louis pull-guns-on-peaceful-protestors couple speak at the RNC, as well as the kid who was rude to Native Americans in DC, so you’re probably right. I worry he’s going to go the way of George Zimmerman and be found innocent because of “defense” and then profit.
whatWHAT?, sadly I think he will get special treatment from the white supremacist gangs in prison and be protected.
Who are we kidding, if he posts bond he will probably speak on the closing night of the RNC.
So if a BLM supporting POC showed up to a Maga rally with an assault rifle and started shooting people to “keep the peace” would the outcome be the same?
Exactly! He ran right up to those police/military jeeps with his rifle and they didnât do a damn thing. He had his hands on his rifle over and over again and they did nothing. But there might have been a knife in a car that a black man was outside of so…..this is so effed up. What other countries let people run around with military weapons in the streets and do nothing about it? I seriously hate this place.
That police chief needs to be fired yesterday! This Nazi kid is everything that is wrong with gun culture- crossed state lines to buy the gun and pranced around with it like he’s some kind of hero who ended up killing innocent people.
He so needs to be fired. Funny he said the people who were shot were out past curfew…but so was the shooter!
I wrote out a number of comments and deleted them all. I just don’t know what to say. I am disgusted.
Same here. I’m so saddened and disgusted.
I just donât get how *blatant* the racism and corruption are! It just so incredibly fcking blatant, nor how white people – who still have the power, letâs be honest – are letting this just pass. Utterly repellent.
“But he had a knife!”
So does every man in the state of Wisconsin over the age of 16. My father, uncles, cousins and boyfriends have all carried knives on them consistently my entire life. It’s super common in a pro-hunting, outdoorsy state like Wisconsin.
And to the commenter who acts like we’re all allowing this to happen… Why do you think people are protesting? Why do you think our conservative party has worked every trick they can to cheat their way in to power? Most folks are finally getting wise to the bullshit and we’re fighting tooth and nail to oust these assholes. If Wisconsin continues to burn, I’m scared many folks will assume that Democratic governor Evers isn’t doing anything to help and will swing back towards Trump and the GOP. It’s a delicate line of fighting for everything we believe in and not descending into complete civil war.
And if ya’ll think voting is enough, I’ve got bad news for you. This shit doesn’t end in Nov. even if Biden is elected. If we get out of this election without more bloodshed it’ll be by the skin of our teeth. The GOP and Foxnews are completely opening the door to White Nationalists and QAnon and it’s going to get real bad over here folks.
Happy Thursday…. I’m going to go snuggle my kitten and cry a little
I don’t get the focus on the knife, from the way they were positioned I don’t see how the officer could have even seen it. What threw me about the video is Jacob seemed so calm and was just walking around the car to get in the driver’s side. I don’t understand why the police were trying to detain him, or even pulling on his shirt, much less shooting him in the back. It wasn’t even a hair trigger shooting either, the shots sounded deliberate and spaced out, and weren’t even in the legs. That many officers around, you’d think they would have at least tried a different taser, or just let him leave and pull him over later or catch him at home.
Exactly. Whatever happened to using a taser or those sticks they carry around if they had to detain him. Will we ever here the full story/truth? No. Because that department will spin it every which way they can to cover their asses. That officer (shooter) needs to be relieved of his duties, tried, and found guilty.
As a CDN appalled by TRUMP, his admin, and the RP I vowed to not travel in the US for business or pleasure during 45âs tenure. I have managed to keep this pledge but it sickens me to see the country seemingly falling apart. The violence and disgusting racism, children in cages, corruption, my god, you could not have imagined the destruction this man and his regime have wrought! To restore decency and heal the wounds of inequality in the US people must VOTE Trump and the repubâs definitively out of power. I know as a CDN I have no right to lecture but as your neighbor I care about your pain and suffering and want better days for you ahead. Hopefully when the dust settles, TRUMP is out of office and he and his enablers are in jail (A girl has dreams), we can look back on this time as a watershed moment where the people rose up to create a more tolerant, equitable compassionate society. VOTE
I am 100% supportive of everyone boycotting this country with your travel dollars and being vocal about it. And boycotting our products too, it’s the only thing Rich White A-Holes understand…the money. But please know that for every MAGA loving idiot you see on Television, there is a kind hearted liberal who couldn’t stop crying for weeks after the election, who barely speaks to family members anymore because they can’t imagine having a blood relative who would vote for these facists, who has to take medication for hypertension at the mere thought of how much the NRA donates to Republican campaigns, and most importantly…how racism has become so incredibly systemic that the police just continue to shoot black people and get away with it!! I have family members I have cut out of my life because of their racist beliefs. So I hope for that watershed moment too, and we really hope to welcome you all back to a better US in the future. In the meantime, boycot the crap out of us and try to find it in your hearts to believe that we don’t all suck, and we are trying like hell to vote out the ones who do!
I know that Black people are not a monolith and are free to vote for whomever they desire but i basically lit into a co-worker last night because he was watching the convention on Fox News in the breakroom and said he had not yet decided who to vote for. When he asked why I said “you will vote for Joe Biden” I almost said “because this man does not give a **** if you die or get shot” but I had guests and couldn’t get into the rant so I focused on Kamala and how we needed more smart, amazing women in politics, and he agreed.
It really shocked me. I am all for getting as much information as possible and being an informed voter but that man literally wants my co-worker dead because he dark skinned and has dreadlocks, and co-worker had no idea. (Though I do get the feeling he is tired of voting for old white men which I wholeheartedly agree with, my vote for Biden is a vote for Kamala!!)
Wow, how racist are you??? Whitesplaining to your black coworker as if he doesn’t have the mental capacity to make up his own mind? How Karen can you get?? Be very ashamed of your racist paternalism and go play mommy to someone else.
I never said he does not have the mental capacity to make up his own mind and commended him for doing his research on who he wanted to vote for. If he votes for Trump then whatever, it’s not like I won’t ever speak to him again or even ask him about it after the election. My concern was that he was getting swept up in the Fox News version of events which is glossing over the atrocities that this administration is committing and so I gave him my opinion. He can take it or leave it. But thanks for being rude!
When does it end? People of color and black people in particular are not the enemy. Theyâre just trying to survive and live their lives. Law Enforcement is supposed to âserve and protectâ all citizens not just white citizens. There are bad people and criminals of every color and they should be held accountable and face legal consequences for their crimes. But like everything in the U.S. the diseases of racism and xenophobia color how people get treated. I shouldnât have to worry about my family members or friends leaving the house and not returning because of law enforcement. Itâs enough to worry about true criminals attacking you, but to have to worry about those whose pledge is to âserve and protectâ being the ones you fear more? How are you supposed to live like that? I need to go practice self care cause all the shit happening right now is depressing me.
Oh and this Washington Post article is pretty accurate:
The Republican convention is paving a path for White voters to again choose Trump
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/08/26/trumps-choice-america-democracy-or-white-supremacy/
As a non-American, I’d love someone to fill me in on how the USA is the greatest country in the world again? This is so horrific that it makes me feel sick to my stomach. The police thanked him? If a black teen took a gun to a far right rally to “maintain order” he’d be shot dead in the street immediately and painted as a criminal. A white boy walked armed in to a protest, fully intending to kill, murders two people and horrifically injures another and he’s thanked by the police chief. It’s like you are living in the upside down.
The USA is not the greatest country in the world. That’s crap spouted by white people who refuse to believe that other countries are better and their citizens live better quality of lives. It’s a narrow, close minded. myopic view of the U.S. clung to dearly by those who do not like change and want to continue imagining themselves as better than everyone else. And yes, I live here in the U.S.
As someone who isn’t American, I know that it’s not true in the least, but you a lot of Americans seem oblivious as to how they look to the rest of the world.
It’s the same way some old Brexiters believe in the glory days of “The British Empire”. It’s their fantasy, a “safe zone” for those of them (as well as the MAGAts here) of their “glory days”.
Akin it to the aged jock, who can ONLY revel in the days when he was the high school football star, and that was the highlight of his life.
I completely agree @CrazyHeCallsMe. And I live here too…
No, we’re not the best anymore. We’re behind in healthcare and education. We have a lot of gun violence. This administration is trying to revive the coal industry instead of investing in clean energy. Racism is alive and well. Anyone who still thinks America is the best in everything is just plain ignorant.
Oh no, we are far from that. Oh we are so far from that. And some of us knew for a while but waited too long and frankly, at this point, none of the actual great countries want us.
I’m Canadian and a lot of Canadians love to live in the fantasyland they we are all so nice and don’t have the same systemic racist crap going on in our country, which isn’t true. It’s not as bad as the US, but it absolutely exists in a major way and we need to stop comparing because it doesn’t matter if it isn’t as blatant, we need to own up to it and make significant changes. The treatment of indigenous people in Canada has been and is still, atrocious. Systemically racist police treatment of BIPOC is constant. I live in the Maritimes and two indigenous people were shot and killed by police in a 10 day period in very questionable circumstances and there has been no repercussions for the officers, whatsoever. A young black man was severely beaten and blinded in one eye by an off duty police officer and his brother and only one of them was found guilty. White fragility is alive and well here in Canada. The newly elected Opposition Party leader here used the phrase “Taking Canada Back” as his slogan. Taking Canada back from who? Last year when a talk show host called out hockey’s whiteness and bullying culture, she was attacked mercilessly for daring to suggest that this could possibly be so and accused of being racist against white people. She still has loser trolls attacking her. It’s just that even with our problems, the stuff happening in your country is so bad by comparison. So please know that I am not sitting here feeling superior and know that Canadians cannot become complacent or we could end up in a similar boat. Sorry for my rant. The state of the world right now is really getting to me.
Deanne, I watch Canada very closely because you’re my closest and probably best escape route, and I know you have your own trump wannabes, and believe me I pray for you guys to hold the line. I consider this very much the rise of global fascism, and America has fallen.
@Deanne – thank you for your post. Canadians have their own terrible racist history and Trump and his MAGATs have simply given them voice to persist in their racist crap. A young indigenous woman was shot and killed in New Brunswick by cops who were supposed to be doing a “wellness check” on her. They insisted she came at them with a knife but it’s their word against that of a dead woman. So Canada is no utopia of peace and kindness, although it’s not nearly as bad as the US, mainly because we have much stricter gun laws and laws governing hate groups.
@Jaded Yes Chantal Moore, a beautiful, 26 year old woman and young Mother, shot by a police officer who wasn’t wearing a body camera, wouldn’t you know. Apparently him showing up unannounced at her apartment in the middle of the night and his terror of her supposedly holding a knife, required him to shoot her multiple times to protect himself. He was placed on desk duty for a short time and is now back on the job, while his fellow police officers “investigate” the shooting. Rodney Levi was another indigenous person from NB shot by police about a week later. A young black woman from Toronto “fell” off of her apartment balcony, while a police wellness check was being done and the case was supposedly being investigated. You’ll be thrilled to know that the police aren’t being held responsible, because of course they investigated themselves and without body cameras, it’s their word against a dead woman’s. It’s all just too horrific. The grossest part of the Chantal Moore shooting, was the police all kind of casually standing around afterword, probably getting their stories straight. No one looked bothered in the least by the fact that they had killed someone. If you watch the news footage of them, it’s bone chilling. You’re right about the gun and hate speech laws. They do make a huge difference in what the public can get away with. Unfortunately, they apparently don’t apply to law enforcement
America has never been the greatest country in the world. For awhile it really was the land of opportunity, but even that was only true for certain people and those who got lucky. America had great promise, but the evil upon which this country was built is never too far from the surface.
We should be talking about how this terrorist was radicalized. Even though we can see it was at the nazi rally. I hope he spends a decade or two on death row.
I had to stop twitter last night I was so enraged at the right condoning and defending this little murderer. And the completely disgusting statement of the police chief!
Pouring fire on a tinder box. He came out and defended the murder and said it was the victimâs fault because they were out past curfew? How about a country that thinks it so okay for a 17 year old to walk around with an assault rifle and the police just offers him water! The police chief obviously doesnât want the violence to end because heâs inciting it.
And yet, he was out after curfew also, with an assault rifle in another state from where he lives. His parents must be so proud.
Unsubstantiated, but I saw on a Facebook post his mom drove him. May or may not be true, but if true that adds a whole new level of horror.
Isn’t it a federal crime to cross state lines and commit murder? Can any lawyers weigh in on this?
Where are this murdererâs parents? Who are they? Why does a 17 year old have an assault rifle? Heâs still a minor so I hope, after heâs convicted and put in general population, that the relatives of the victims sue his parents so hard that theyâre still paying in 2120.
The same people who claim to want law and order are the ones praising the murder of protesters and Black people. They don’t want law, they want white nationalism. I am disgusted and saddened right now. I don’t know how people can defend murder, whether by police, white teenagers or serial killers. And the fact that Tucker Carlson went on Fox News and justified these actions and that politicians are begging “Patriots” to “defend” America is scary. It seems like the US is one step away from civil war or a genocide.
I noticed Facebook has removed images of him.
I also saw pictures of his two victims… when are we going to get serious about white on white crime? đ
This unfu*kable nerd must have been so happy to shoot someone with his gun finally
You know thatâs the truth. This stuff is ridiculous. If this little puke dies in prison, my feelings wonât be hurt. The police arenât even trying to hide their bias in favor of Klan types any longer. SMDH
I assume you saw the video of him running away from his victim while talking on the phone and telling someone that he just murdered someone? He instantly bragged to someone about his actions. Says a lot.
Where is the recording of his phone conversation? I need to hear it.
Donât know about the phone conversation, but there are plenty of videos out there of the moments he shoots and kills his victims. You can even see them fall to the ground. Then he casually walks away. Just google it. Then you can come back here for your defense of him.
Wonder how many holes heâd have in his body if he had been walking toward police with an assault rifle and dark skin.
Ann Coulter tweeted that she wants Kyle Rittenhouse as our next president. We are already living this scenario you dumb b*tch! Ann Coulter is the human equivalent of my dogs anal gland secretions. She is vile & probably smells faintly like dead fish.
That description of Ann Coulter is PERFECTION.
Tucker Carlson, of Fox News, is praising the terrorist murderer as a young man who did his best to maintain law and order after the police did not. The fuck? Will the murderer now speak at the RNC as a national hero? The new low is a bottomless pit. Fire Tucker!
I’m from Wisconsin and have family that live in Kenosha. I first read about the Jacob Blake shooting on Sunday evening when Kenosha was trending on twitter. My gut instinct knowing how segregated Kenosha is and the right leaning views of many white residents, my family included, was that it wasn’t going to be peaceful. The younger generation does seem more willing to acknowledge their white privilege and the reality they live in a very racist city more than their parents and grandparents do. They know that their Black and Latinx classmates are more likely to be disciplined at school for minor and petty offenses that they can get away with. At least one cousin was out protesting during the daytime hours this week. I’m sure that this is the only the latest time where her right wing, GWB Iraq War veteran father is wondering why she ended up on the opposite side of the political spectrum from him.
Here’s a link to a buzzfeed story about the shooter https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ellievhall/kenosha-suspect-kyle-rittenhouse-trump-rally.
He had been identified via social media yesterday. He’s from Illinois, a border town that is 15 miles from Kenosha. He knew what he intended to and shut down most of his social media accounts yesterday, but not before he was identified and enough information archived.
The rioters seem more focused on the targets of their destruction and vandalism. It was no coincidence that they destroyed a Wisconsin Department of Corrections building that housed the parole and probation offices. They also were trying to get access to the Kenosha County Courthouse on Tuesday night. They also vandalized a majority white charter school that my cousin sends her kids to. In Madison, where there were also protests and riots, they went after the Wisconsin Manufactures & Commerce building on the Capitol Square. That group is a barely veiled GOP lobbying group that is also very pro-big business and anti-labor.
Question: Are ANY Republicans condemning the terrorist act of murder? Or is he a new hero patriot that foretells the direction this country is going in with Trump?
Saying “he came from another state” is misleading. Im from that area. (We call it Ke-nowhere) Kenosha WI and Antioch IL are both border cities. Antioch is almost a suburb of Kenosha. They’re like a 20 min drive, which is less than my commute to work. Also, Kyle surrendered to the Kenosha police at the scene, but they didn’t arrest him.
All of the people he shot were attacking him.
It does no one any favors to not get the facts straight.
He went there with an assault rifle, which it seems to me, indicates intent. There was no reason for him to be there-heâs not police. Thatâs a fact.
Cops at the scene didn’t arrest him because they were shitty at their jobs & because he’s white. He brought an assault rifle to a protest, killed 2 people & they let him go. He’s now charged with 1st degree intentional homicide. The DA clearly isn’t playing around with potential mitigating circumstances here.
The cops were in on this vigilante-ism. Last night I stumbled upon film of cops handing out water bottles to a group of guys holding assault rifles, and I was confused. Who were these men? Had they been deputized by the police to help?
My confusion grew as I continued watching this footage. I saw what turned out to be Rittenhouse walking toward cops who were rolling by in tanks after the shootings occurred with his arms raised in the air like he was surrendering …and the cops just kept on driving! Didnât stop and arrest him. Wtf was going on here? THEN it dawned on me. This was set up by the cops. The cops, who were themselves inside armored tanks, completely safe, were in on this plot to have vigilantes walking the streets with rifles to clear protesters after curfew began. HOW is this allowed to happened anywhere?
The Russians are chuckling right now – they knew the US was ripe for it. Their involvement cannot be overlooked. The seeds of injustice were planted long ago in our society, but I do believe the chaos unfolding now is something theyâve helped to grow by their political involvement in the last election. The GOP must go.
From a legal standpoint crossing state lines is very important: the laws are different regarding age of open carry. Furthermore crossing state lines to commit murder changes jurisdiction to federal.
“All of the people he shot were attacking him.”
No. People were chasing an active shooter and trying to disarm him before he killed more people. Let me guess, you think the plastic bag that was thrown by the first man who was shot was a “Molotov cocktail”, and not a plastic bag?
This was not self defense. It was someone looking for people to shoot.
The fact that a private citizen is walking around with an assault rifle is NOT NORMAL! It might seem due to the crazy laws in the USA but it is not normal to flaunt a deadly weapon in public. In any other western country you will not see anyone doing something like this and not being arrested for being a threat to public safety let alone if they shot someone.
As an American I don’t blame anyone who doesn’t want to come here or support American products in any way. We are absolutly a shit hole country that has allowed fascism and hate to take over. While I want to beleive that most of us are decent people we can’t hide from the fact that we allowed the circumstances to happen to elect Trump. I am embarrassed and ashamed to be associated with any of this hate and violence. I hope hope hope that we get Biden in office and start to piece together a better country for all of us.
I think we are currently in a civil war that will explode in November, regardless of presidential outcome. I hope I am wrong, but I think all this red state/blue state/black/white strife fanned by Trump but having existed for years before is agitating it. It has not yet exploded yet, but people in 1860 also probably didn’t realize they were marching towards an imminent war either.
I am a black woman and I am scared.
I worry you are right. Very troubling times. Hugs.
I agree with those who refuse to travel to America at this time. Please make your voices heard. Contact businesses, travel companies, airlines. The majority of Americans want this nightmare to end. We’re doing what we can in securing our election. Many of us, including me, cannot believe what has happened to our country. We want you here, want your safety and a joyful vacation.
I am torn. I believe its problematic to critique how people protest but burning down businesses in the same community and looting is playing into the hands of the alt right and Trump. Itâs distracting from the actual cause. We canât afford to lose this election and Iâm scared people are going to get turned off by the looting and rioting.
This is a huge part of what I think about and research lately. Here’s what I’ve learned.
First, I live in Minneapolis six blocks from where George Floyd was murdered. Local protests escalated again last night for a bunch of reasons. Our pharmacy was hit for the third time, which means moving all my family’s many prescriptions somewhere else. It means I was up all night AGAIN watching live feeds to see where fires were being set and property destroyed. It’s not fun. But we have reached a reckoning point where people will no longer take they way BIPOC have been treated by police & by America. I need to realize I don’t have it as bad as many & I need to learn as much as possible about what’s fueling the uprising & destruction.
Second, the majority of the 50+ people arrested here last night were not from the city. They are Rittenhouses coming to make “bad trouble” not John Lewis’s “good trouble”. They are from small towns or suburbs or out of state coming to create a little chaos or part of militias acting to “help” law enforcement.
Most of us, at least locally, have seen video of the “Umbrella Man” who started smashing windows & turning protests destructive after Floyd’s murder. That guy turned out to be a Neo-Nazi white supremacist from Michele Bachmann land. It’s a strategy used to fan the flames of anger amongst protesters & fear amongst locals, to make people feel unsafe, like they need police to step in and take over. And where are police? They’ve been taking PTSD disability leave after Floyd’s murder, taking extra long time to respond to calls in certain neighborhoods & essentially punishing people for protesting racist behavior. It’s a bit like the wild west around here sometimes, especially at night. Drag races, shootings
When we talk about Defunding schools or healthcare, teachers & nurses still do their jobs while the reallocation of funds is being considered. But talk about that with police? They. Will. Punish. You. And it frightens people because the systems people want to replace police with? Like having unarmed response teams for addiction or mental health calls? They’re not in place yet. So for now we get little to nothing. And it’s scary! Designed to be so.
Third, have you seen videos where people describe why protests escalate? There are some powerful ones. I’ll post a link to Kimberly Jones who gave an incredible, impromptu speech during the filming of a documentary after Floyd’s murder. She’s breathtaking.
Finally, I share your concern that safety will flip white voters back to voting Republican. That’s what they’re hoping you’ll do: be scared. Don’t let them. Keep speaking out about why WE need to keep protesting racist structures in whatever way we can (boots on the ground, phone calls, letters) & protest like the way police abuse their power with little to no accountability. Don’t fan the flames of fear. Listen to the protest messages, read books & essays about Black experiences with police & America, watch documentaries – whatever you can. Then share what you learn with your friends & family. Vote as early as your state let’s you. We can do this. We can push to make things better, but that will be much easier with Biden in the WH and a Democratic Senate.
Thanks for listening. Peace.
Kimberly Jones:
https://youtu.be/sb9_qGOa9Go
Great post. I’m interested to watch the video and learn.
In my small community, I feel absolutely let down by the men in my life, my in laws and male friends. Each of them are trump supporters to this day (besides my elderly latino father who has joined me at BLM protests). I keep telling my woman friends that the men who continue to support trump have let America down. The women in my life are the ones protesting, marching, volunteering, staying educated so that we donât end up like Nazi Germany. I am so disappointed in the men in my life who have been dumb enough to be brainwashed by the trump cult. Totally dissapoints and I blame them for the state of our country as they voted and continue to support this fascist racist administration.
I live in âred countryâ and its absolutely awful. I pass as white and so many times hear Trumpers make racist remarks about hispanics. Their hypocrisy and racism gives me such anxiety.
If I hear one more trumper justify the murder of a black body (âjust follow orders bro!â) or this murderous little Augustas Gloop look alike (âbut they were burning buildings down! The kid was defending property!â) i will scream. Last time I checked, disobeying a police officer or vandalism donât result in the death penalty. No single person- whether its a radicalized sociopathic 17 yr old or a dirty cop, can be the judge, jury and executioner of another person. Trump Supporters are absolutely brainwashed. If Trump loses, what will these supporters have to say for themselves? There will be a reckoning for the people who supported Trumpâs racist fascist administration during this time in our countryâs history just as there was for the Nazis and Hitler supporters after the fall of Nazi Germany.
I’m sorry you have to deal with Magats, Sparky. It’s messing with my head and I’m in a blue state, sounds miles worse where you are. The best revenge will be don’t let them stop you from living (and possibly prison sentences for all of the crooks in the Trump contingent).
I called 3 embassies in 2008 after the Bush/Gore fiasco because I wanted out then. They basically said my best bet was to marry someone. When Trump won I knew it would be bad, that he would run the country into the ground just like every business heâs ever owned, and I knew he was a wannabe Hitler. What I didnât foresee was this whole messianic worship from the evangelicals, and the entire GOP turning into Jonestown.
It is forever astonishing to me that these entitled goons get to parade around with real weapons while people of color can’t do the simplest of every day things without being killed or peaceful protesters can’t hold a rally without being assaulted by law enforcement.
I am a white, middle-aged+ white woman and am completely disgusted by so much of the behavior I see in the United States now. The anti-mask, fake news, anti-science, pro-gun, racist, sexist, misogynistic, Chrisitan centric, hypocritical nature of 40% of this country is pushing me over the edge. What else can I do? I already shop at Black-owned businesses, donate, address racism in conversations, vote Blue, write my senators and representatives, participate in protests, read to stay informed, teach my children, interact with people of all races, genders, religions, etc…etc. I try to stay open. I try to understand. I feel so helpless. Seriously. This is a real question. What else can I, a white woman, do, to help turn the tide in this country?
Hi Grace,
We sound similar. I posted to Sparky (a couple comments above this) with some thoughts. It sounds like you are doing a lot, in the midst of this quarantine & under a fascist president during extraordinarily difficult times. Keep speaking up! It helps to know there are other people who care & are trying to make a difference.
I’m trying to read, watch films & documentaries, follow the social media of activists, listen listen listen, keep educating myself about BIPOC experiences, particularly Black people right now.
And then, with the gentle encouragement of my therapist, I’m trying to make sure I take care of myself, mental health, physically, emotionally, spiritually (meaning practicing what gives me energy & joy). This is hard for me. I get sucked into the internet & don’t move for hours. Which means I’m often not at my best. According to my therapist, body movement helps with anxiety. Taking social media & internet breaks to laugh & enjoy life helps me feel less overwhelmed & full of despair. And I asked my doctor for a bump up in my antidepressant because shit is HARD right now & I’m trying hard to keep my head above water, for myself & for my kids whose school is about to start again – from home.
I wish we could stay in touch to keep boosting each other through this difficult time. Maybe I’ll see you here again. Just know I’m rooting for you – and all people on this site who want real, positive changes – to take good care of yourself & keep working on being an ally.
I’m hoping we’ll get through all this to a better normal than we’ve ever had before. Peace.
great post Kaiser. I feel your fierceness. made me tear up.
He has a weak, inbred chin.