Why America Burns

Jacob Blake, father, son, brother, human.

Once again, we see the way the police go about ‘policing’ those not white among us.

Please, please, please, we need no more examples of this kind of policing, of this police brutality, of this murder.

We have enough, we have had enough.

Jacob Blake, father, son, brother, was shoot in the back seven times by a policeman with one hand on Blake’s shirt and the other holding the gun that did it. While he was getting into his car, and in front of his children.

Why?

We don’t know. Kenosha Police aren’t saying, they’re ‘investigating’. As always, ‘investigating’. They want to make sure their brother officers have justice, unlike the ‘justice’ served Jacob Blake, father, son, brother… who lies in a hospital bed, partially paralyzed by this policeman’s actions. The policeman is suspended or reassigned, with pay, of course.

Of course.

We shall hear the familiar reasons, excuses, that the policeman feared for his life, that Jacob Blake, father, son, brother, refused commands. We’ll get the usual blaming of the victim. All is this too familiar, all of this nightmare lived before, again, and again, and, again.  

His sister, Letetra Widman, said: “When you say the name ‘Jacob Blake,’ make sure you say ‘father.’ Make sure you say ‘cousin.’ Make sure you say ‘son.’ Make sure you say ‘uncle.’ But most importantly, make sure you say ‘human.’ Let it marinate in your mouth, in your minds. A human life. … I don't want your pity. I want change.”

Jacob Blake, father, son, brother, human.

What the hell. What the hell.

The other side? How do the Kenosha police treat young white men who have actually committed a crime? We have an example of that as well. In the protests, and yes, riots in the past three days, we have these ‘militia’ types showing up with their guns, ‘protecting’ things, really, looking for an excuse to use that gun they carry around at the grocery store.

Last night, one of them found an excuse.

17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, a white ‘militiaman’ from Illinois, crossed the border in Wisconsin, looking for a fight. He illegally brought his AK with him. Moments after getting thanks, approval and a free bottle of water from the police, he opens fire and murders two people during a protest in Wisconsin last night, wounding one more.

Cell phone footage shows Kenosha police telling armed insurrectionists, “We appreciate you guys. We really do,” and giving them bottles of water, including this killer. So, we see how police handle armed white guys.

Shortly after this video was taken, this murder shot and killed two protesters and wounded another. These guys, supported by the police.

From the Washington Post:

“A Washington Post journalist who observed the scene saw the man with the rifle run by with a few protesters in pursuit after gunfire erupted about a block away. He tripped and fell, rolled into a sitting position, raised his gun and opened fire at his pursuers.”

Still sketchy, but it sounds like he fired, got chased for shooting someone, fell and started firing again. He will say one of two things: He acted in self-defense, or they deserved it (I’m seeing both of these in right wing media right now). There will be more blaming of the victims.

And how did this killer get away and run back to Illinois? How did this guy, armed with an AK get past a line of police and their vehicles as protesters cried out that he had just shot someone?

By walking right by them.

This is how the police treat a white man who just murdered two people, and this is how they treated unarmed Jacob Blake, a father, a son, a brother, a cousin, an uncle… a human being.

This is why people are in the streets. The Kenosha Police Department has painted broadly the reasons America is burning.

Black Lives Have to Matter, but they don’t matter to many who have the power over those Black Lives.

This is why America burns.