Rittenhouse’s decision does not end the minor US dispute over race and justice

The streets of Kenosha, Wisconsin have been silent since judges approved Kyle Rittenhouse’s defense and acquitted the teenager of two counts of murder during a civil war last year.

But in the US everywhere verdict has brought anger to the left of politics and rejoicing to the right, following a two-week trial that greatly divided public opinion.

The court proceedings coincided with a Georgia bombing case involving the assassination of Ahmaud Arbery, a black man who was shot dead while running, and revealing a broken country that still struggles with ethnic issues and crimes a year later. The assassination of George Floyd.

For the organizers of the Reimagine Kenosha event, who erected tents on a grassy plain a short distance from the court, the goal was to “find a way to cure”.

“We know our organizations are still sick. . . “We are in danger, so we need to reconsider,” said Kyle Johnson, a planner after Friday’s ruling.

Kenosha resident Jasmine Alvarez described Rittenhouse’s reaction when she was found not guilty on all five grounds that she was “upset, not surprised. She was angry.”

He should have learned the consequences of his actions, and they did not
it’s going to happen, “he said, referring to Rittenhouse, who was described by the prosecutor as a” troublemaker “who went to Kenosha to” seek trouble. ”

Kendall Needham, a resident of Kenosha, stressed that the results of the August 2020 shooting would be different for a black person. Rittenhouse is clean.

“There are so many people [in Kenosha] to make time for small, problematic mistakes but a child from another city comes to encourage
violence and take the lives of two people and leave
shameless. “

Rittenhouse traveled to Kenosha, a city on Lake Michigan, from the vicinity of Illinois after a police officer shot and killed Jacob Blake, a black man, leaving him paralyzed and causing riots for days. Rusten Sheskey, the police officer who shot Blake, was not case is a crime.

Rittenhouse testified in his case that he was present to protect the property and provide first aid, alleging that he was carrying a self-defense pistol. He shot three men, killed two and wounded a third in an altercation with a mob.

After Friday’s verdict, Rittenhouse supporters marched through the courthouse and blew trumpets at their car in celebration.

Republican lawmakers with favorable comments welcomed Rittenhouse’s release, noting that the ruling guarantees American American Second Amendment, which allows people to “keep and carry weapons”. The judge in the Rittenhouse case dismissed the gun case before the case was settled.

“We thank Kyle Rittenhouse for being found not guilty,” former US President Donald Trump said in a statement. “Also, if it’s not self-defense, nothing is!”

Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican Congressman and Trump’s ally, said he wanted to give the young man a scholarship. Paul Gosar, a Republican lawmaker in Arizona, who was criticized last week by the House of Representatives for posting a video on a television show showing the assassination of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a fellow Congress member, said he had “fought” with Gaetz using the Rittenhouse. Fox News Assistant Tucker Carlson is working on a teen-oriented project.

Democrats, too, expressed frustration.

President Joe Biden said “while Kenosha’s decision will leave many Americans angry and concerned, I must also acknowledge that the judges have spoken out.” Rittenhouse was portrayed as a major figure in last year’s Biden campaign video.

Vice-president Kamala Harris, a former state attorney general, told reporters that “it is clear that there is a lot of work to be done” to ensure that US justice is maintained.

Lilly Goren, a professor of political science at Carroll University in Wisconsin, said that, as in the case of Arbery’s assassins, “racism is more prevalent” in the Rittenhouse case.

He saw a Georgia defense attorney – where three white men killed a black man – complain about black pastors sitting in court. Reverend Al Sharpton, the human rights leader, responded in preparation for a meeting of black pastors outside the court last week.

Goren also said there were no cases in which two police officers shot and killed Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old black boy playing with a toy gun in a park in Ohio, in another case that drew national attention.

Rittenhouse ruling means that at future political demonstrations,
especially the Black Lives Matter group, “there may be more
about this, in particular, a clean look, ”Goren said.

Conflicts in Kenosha had escalated in preparation for Rittenhouse’s decision, with protest groups rallying around. Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers has allowed 500 National Guard troops to stand but protests in the city and elsewhere in the US have been peaceful over the weekend.

The riots that followed the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis last year, seemingly sparked a series of racist discussions in the United States. Interest has turned to a court in Brunswick, Georgia, where European defendants in the Arbery case have also spoken out in defense.