Mother of Kenosha Man Shot by Cops Apologizes to Trump, Shreds Violent Rioters Destroying America
The shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, is the latest racial incident to rend the social fabric of our country. Blake, according to the Kenosha News, was shot seven times in the back at close range on Sunday after police were called to a domestic altercation.
Witnesses say he was trying to break up a verbal altercation between two women but police focused their attention on him. Blake was reaching into the driver’s side of his car despite clear verbal warnings not to do it. Reports now say Blake is paralyzed from the waist down.
A graphic video on social media shows the shooting, although not the events leading up to it. It is, like so many things in this summer of our discontent, a political Rorschach test.
Once one gets over the absolute shock and horror of the video, it’s easy to see how the video has elicited strong reactions from both liberals and pro-police users on social media.
No, Blake shouldn’t have reached into his vehicle, something which would have made officers believe he might have been reaching for a weapon. Yes, without receiving specific training in how officers are supposed to engage suspects in these situations, it does appear to this observer that police could have missed opportunities to subdue Blake without shooting him before he reached the door of his SUV.
It’s a dreadful situation, but one in which we should wait for the facts to come in.
But people aren’t going to, so rioters have turned Kenosha into another grim, dispiriting citywide melee in the wake of a controversial death. Now, two people are dead because of an attack, allegedly at the hands of a deranged teen obsessed with police work.
Businesses have been burned, lives have been ruined, property has been destroyed and confrontations between business owners protecting their property and rioters who want to destroy it have become a thing.
In other cities, rioters and aggressive demonstrators were prevalent, too — most notably in Washington, D.C., where demonstrators were recorded in several tense confrontations with diners who refused to raise their fists as protesters demanded they do.
And yet, what does Jacob Blake want? Not this.
In an interview with CNN’s Don Lemon, Blake’s mother talked about the reaction to her son’s shooting. Julia Jackson was decidedly unimpressed with the violent protesters.
“My family and I are very hurt — and quite frankly disgusted,” she said.
“And as his mother, please don’t burn up property and cause havoc and tear your own homes down in my son’s name. … [T]o use my child … our tragedy, to react in that manner, is just not acceptable.”
Jacob Blake’s mom on violence in Kenosha: “My family and I are very hurt. And quite frankly disgusted. And as his mother, please don’t burn up property and cause havoc and tear your own homes down in my son’s name. You shouldn’t do it. … it’s just not acceptable.” pic.twitter.com/T00Fg5MOvj
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) August 26, 2020
“And it’s not helping Jacob,” she continued. “It’s not helping Jacob or any other of the men and women who have suffered in these areas.”
As for the president, she said she was sorry she missed the call he made to her.
“And then also, for President Trump, I’m sorry I missed your call,” she said. “Because, had I not missed your call maybe the comments you had made would have been different. I’m not mad at you at all. I have the utmost respect for you as the leader of our country.”
It’s unclear what remarks she was referencing, as the U.K. Independent noted the president has yet to make any comments about Blake.
According to USA Today, she had a similar message for reporters on Tuesday.
“We really just need prayers,” Jackson said.
“As I was riding through here, the city, I noticed a lot of damage. It doesn’t reflect my son or my family. If Jacob knew what was going on as far as that goes — the violence and the destruction — he would be very unpleased.”
It wasn’t just this incident that sparked riots against the wishes of the family, however. Tom Elliott — the founder of conservative news clip site Grabien — noted this is what so many other families have said.
There was George Floyd’s brother, just several months ago: “Channel your anger to do something positive or make a change another way because we’ve been down this road already … The anger, damaging your hometown is not the way he’d want … just relax. Justice will be served.”
Then the family of Michael Brown, who was shot by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014: “We reject any kind of violence directed toward members of law enforcement. … We specifically denounce the actions of stand-alone agitators who unsuccessfully attempt to derail the otherwise peaceful … movement that has emerged throughout the U.S.”
Michael Brown’s family: “We reject any kind of violence directed toward members of law enforcement. … We specifically denounce the actions of stand-alone agitators who unsuccessfully attempt to derail the otherwise peaceful … movement that has emerged throughout the U.S.”
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) August 26, 2020
And then the family of Trayvon Martin after he was shot by George Zimmerman in 2012: “As we’ve stated repeatedly in the past, our family rejects any kind of violence directed toward members of law enforcement & our community in general … We must work together to peacefully bring about change to our communities. Violence is never the answer.”
Trayvon’s family: “As we’ve stated repeatedly in the past, our family rejects any kind of violence directed toward members of law enforcement & our community in general … We must work together to peacefully bring about change to our communities. Violence is never the answer”
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) August 26, 2020
None of these things happened, of course, and none of these riots associated with these protests had anything to do with trying to affect positive change, even by threatening the establishment.
Most of them were just expressions of inchoate rage. A few of them were the acts of people who always looked for an excuse to descend into violence. Neither group were particularly promising agents of cultural melioration.
Whatever the case, these riots aren’t problematic because they’re hurtful to the liberal cause, as Don Lemon helpfully explained on Tuesday night (ignoring the people injured, the cost, the property destroyed, those sorts of things).
CNN’s Don Lemon says that the riots across the country have to stop because it might hurt the Democrats’ chances in November:
“It’s showing up in the polling. It’s showing up in the focus groups.”pic.twitter.com/s6lea8slwr
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 26, 2020
What we should be focused on, instead, is what these men would have wanted. In every case, we’ve established it wouldn’t involve rioting. Far from it; they would want constructive engagement.
This is destructive disengagement — disengagement from the law, from their communities and from the cause they claim to represent.
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