Searching for Hope and Justice

I woke this morning feeling happy.

I arrived in Austin yesterday, a city that I love. I’m in the city for meetings, but I’m getting to spend time with friends I love. The day held a lot of promise.

But now I feel sick.

The verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse murder case was announced today. Not guilty on all charges.

I admit that I didn’t watch or follow the trial. I feared my stomach and heart couldn’t take it. But here is what I know about the circumstances that led up to the trial. This information is gathered from multiple sources.

On August 23, 2020, Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, was shot seven times in the back by a white police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin; Blake was left partially paralyzed.

People protesting yet another shooting of a Black person by police descended into Kenosha in the days following the shooting, as did militia groups, who posted on social media, “Any patriots willing to take up arms and defend City tonight from the evil thugs?"

For several nights, there was protesting in the streets; several businesses were burned.

Rittenhouse, who had dropped out of high school, was 17 years old at the time and an Illinois resident, arrived in Kenosha to “protect people” according to a video interview with him. He had attempted to join the Marine Corps in January 2020 but was disqualified from serving. He routinely posted pictures of himself with guns on social media, including photos with the phrase “Blue Lives Matter.”

Several sources said he idolized police officers and considered law enforcement officers as “his personal heroes.”

Rittenhouse told The Washington Post that he received his first coronavirus check for $1,200. He gave the money to his friend, Dominick Black to purchase an AR-15 style rifle for him. Rittenhouse could not purchase the semiautomatic rifle because he was underage at the time. There are multiple videos of Rittenhouse on August 25 carrying the gun on the streets of Kenosha.

Before the night was over, Rittenhouse had killed Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and injured Gaige Grosskreutz, then 26.

On the day of his arraignment, he was photographed at a bar in Wisconsin wearing a t-shirt that said, “Free as F--k,” while also making a hand sign that is the symbol of white supremacists. He was served alcoholic drinks, which 18-year-olds can legally consume in Wisconsin. He was serenaded with the song that has been deemed the anthem of The Proud Boys, a group associated with white supremacy.

An investigative article by The New Yorker described a deeply dysfunctional family situation for Rittenhouse. Based on the reporting, it is inevitable that Rittenhouse experienced multiple Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), which have been shown to negatively impact individuals, including increasing the risk for violence victimization and perpetration.

Rittenhouse was acquitted by a jury, a system that was established to protect and ensure that every person who is charged with a crime has an opportunity for a fair trial.

According to the American Bar Association, “The right to a trial by a jury of one’s peers is a cornerstone of American democracy. By entrusting jurors from the community to decide legal cases—some of them involving millions of dollars or life-and-death issues—we reinforce our belief that everyday people can make the right decision, and that we are an open, democratic government.”

Sounds good on paper. However, decades (maybe centuries) of documented unfairness in our justice system have proven that people of color aren’t afforded the same.

The judge in the Rittenhouse case was a 75-year-old white man who is the longest serving circuit judge in Wisconsin.

Judges have the power to determine what evidence and words can be used in a trial. The judge ruled that prosecutors could not refer to the individuals that Rittenhouse shot as “victims.” However, he did allow defense attorneys to refer to Rittenhouse’s victims as arsonists and looters.

Of the selected 12 jurors and eight alternates, there were nine men and 11 women. There was only one person of color. It is unclear as to whether the person of color was seated on the jury or served as an alternate.

The defense attorneys argued that Rittenhouse feared for his life and shot his victims in “self-defense,” which he repeated during his own testimony.

At this time, there is no verdict in another high-profile trial – this one for Gregory McMichael, 65, and his son Travis, 35, who shot Ahmaud Arbery on February 23, 2020, while their neighbor, William "Roddie" Bryan, 52, filmed the murder. The McMichaels claimed they were trying to make a “citizen’s arrest.”

Arbery was unarmed and jogging in McMichaels’s neigborhood. The McMichaels armed themselves with a pistol and shotgun and pursued Arbery in their pickup, ultimately shooting and killing him. The McMichaels said that Arbery “resembled a suspect in “a series of break-ins,” although there are no police reports filed on alleged break-ins.

What is it that makes white men feel the need to become vigilantes? What is it that makes a 17-year-old a cold-blooded killer? What is the reason that causes conservatives and evangelicals praise these murderers as heroes? What is it that makes white women feel the need to call the police on Black men they encounter?

Is it fear?

Or is it a failure of media, our education, religious, justice, and public safety systems?

I don’t know, but I suspect it is all the above. I just know that I’m scared to death of the Kyle Rittenhouses of the world and all the misguided vigilantes that have self-anointed themselves to maintain the pervasive and racist justice of this country’s past.

I’m usually pretty hopeful and optimistic, but today I am sick and scared.