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Officers Shoot Unarmed Black Man In Front Of His Kids On Viral Video. Kenosha, Wisconsin ‘Takes Off’ In Rebellion

Officers Shoot Unarmed Black Man In Front Of His Kids On Viral Video. Kenosha, Wisconsin ‘Takes Off’ In Rebellion

Kenosha
Police shoot an unarmed Black man in front of his children in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The video goes viral and the city takes off in rebellion. Images: Twitter

Despite the worldwide protests over the police murder of George Floyd, despite the public outrage against excessive police force, another unarmed Black man in the U.S. has been shot multiple times by police.

Videos of the latest incident that took place late Sunday afternoon in Kenosha, Wis., have gone viral. The videos show Jacob Blake being followed by police officers with their weapons drawn. Blake walks around a car and as he tries to enter it, one of the officers grabs his shirt and the police start shooting him in his back. Blake was shot at least seven times.

Blake is in critical condition.   

The officers have been placed on leave and the city declared an emergency curfew after protests rocked the city.

Almost immediately, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) called for greater police accountability as the video spread rapidly through social media.

“While we do not have all of the details yet, what we know for certain is that he is not the first Black man or person to have been shot or injured or mercilessly killed at the hands of individuals in law enforcement in our state or our country,” Evers said in a statement. “We stand with all those who have and continue to demand justice, equity, and accountability for Black lives in our country.”

Officers were responding to a domestic incident, police said. Witnesses told the Kenosha News that Blake was trying to break up a fight between two women and that police first tried to taser him before shooting him, The BBC reported.

Blake was shot in front of his children, according to Kenosha News. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump posted on Twitter that Blake’s three sons were inside the car.

“They saw a cop shoot their father. They will be traumatized forever. We cannot let officers violate their duty to PROTECT us,” tweeted Crump, who says he was contacted by Blake’s family.

Kenosha police have yet to comment on what led to the shooting. 

Residents went to the streets in masses, shouting “We won’t back down.” Some protesters set cars on fire, others targeted garbage trucks that had been parked to block traffic, shattering the trucks’ windows and setting them on fire. Police arrived with riot gear and armed with rubber bullets. Eventually, police sprayed tear gas at the crowd, The Washington Post reported.

Protests spread across the state.

Outraged by the incident, people spoke out on Twitter. Julián Castro, the former San Antonio mayor and Democratic presidential candidate, questioned whether the police had considered “nonlethal methods.”

“Why didn’t officers physically restrain him? Or use their tasers? Or disable the vehicle?,” Castro asked.

“They. Held. His. Shirt. While. They. Shot.” @Kokomothegreat tweeted.

Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund tweeted, “Our lives have so little value that ofcrs are using fatal gunshots as a shortcut to talking, negotiation, disabling vehicles. It’s shorter; the ofcr doesn’t have to get physically involved; and the result is guaranteed.”

Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 73: Jamarlin Martin Jamarlin makes the case for why this is a multi-factor rebellion vs. just protests about George Floyd. He discusses the Democratic Party’s sneaky relationship with the police in cities and states under Dem control, and why Joe Biden is a cop and the Steve Jobs of mass incarceration.

Bernice King, Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter and the CEO of the King Center, posted on Twitter that she was dismayed to see another video of a Black person being “brutalized and/or gunned down by police.”

“Anybody who doesn’t believe we are beyond a state of emergency is choosing to lack empathy and awareness,” King tweeted.

Clyde McLemore, a spokesman with a local chapter of Black Lives Matter, told reporters, “The frustration is boiling to the top and we’re sick and tired,” according to the BBC.

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