By Ruth A. Sheets
Raise your hand if you thought Kyle Rittenhouse would be found guilty of any of the five charges brought against him for the killing of two men and the disabling of a third in Kenosha, Wisconsin! No hands? How am I not surprised! Could it be that his trial was “rigged” from the day Mr. Rittenhouse was arrested, not at the BLM protest where he committed the, let’s call them “acts,” but sometime later.
Mr. Rittenhouse was 17 when he “decided” to go across state lines to save property or some other such nonsense at a Black Lives Matter event protesting the murder of a Black man by police, shot several times in the back. There was a suggestion by Mr. Rittenhouse that he could bring some kind of medical assistance, although it isn’t clear what that could have been while carrying a gun, an illegal one at that.
Media gave Mr. Rittenhouse all sorts of coverage so he became a kind of hero to the “White Right.” For whom Black Lives only Matter when they are working to make them rich or comfortable. And, a kid who shoots down white supporters of BLM is not only a hero, but a kind of saint. They were and are ready to wine and dine him to honor his “courage.”
The trial, what an embarrassment that was for all of us who believe the justice system should actually be just, from the selection of the jury (all white but for one Black man,) yep, a jury of one’s peers, to the verdict. By the way, at the time the jury was sent to deliberate, Rittenhouse got to pick out the names of those who would be dismissed. Wow! If that wasn’t a bad look!
Because of his celebrity, Rittenhouse got the “finest” lawyers money could buy, and buy them his White Right supporters did. They coached the defendant on every means to make the jury see him as their own little boy, wrongly accused of a horrific, but understandable act, that, of course, those “rioters” deserved.
They taught him the “Kavanaugh Defense.” That’s where a man cries to demonstrate how he is being treated so badly, poor innocent him. It can’t be a quiet flowing of tears or someone might think he really did what he is accused of and was sorry for it. There must be a lot of noise, a lot of sniffling, sobbing, moments when he just “can’t go on! The people listening have already been primed to be susceptible” to the weeping rage. Republicans on the Judiciary Committee interviewing Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court were primed as well as Rittenhouse’s jury was. As a blind listener to both outbursts, I wanted to gag. Both were some of the worst acting I have seen, or rather heard. Maybe if the jury (or the Judiciary Committee) had closed their eyes for a moment, they would have heard that too.
The judge, Bruce Schroeder, where can one start? The man was elected by people who either didn’t care what he was since he ran unopposed or were delighted that a racist would serve them in the city’s courtrooms.
The prosecution might have chosen other charges to try Rittenhouse on, but they chose the truth. It was clear from the start, however, judge Schroeder was out to sabotage their case. He told the prosecutor that using the word “victim” for those killed and injured by Mr. Rittenhouse was “inflammatory,” but it was perfectly OK for the defense to call those same men “rioters and looters,” when there was no evidence of their rioting or looting. They were clearly victims, however.
The berating of the prosecution for various things the judge didn’t like probably impacted the presentation of their case. The judge’s performance, broadcast across the world was also meant to reach and inspire the White Right, which it certainly did. I find it amusing that the judge took a moment to whine about having the trial televised. What a hypocrite!
So what can we who expected but are appalled by this verdict do now? Well, we need to challenge our state legislatures, like Pennsylvania’s who are trying to make it legal to carry concealed weapons. I guess their next step is to OK kids like Kyle Rittenhouse to carry loaded automatic rifles in the streets. Oh wait! There might be a problem. How can they make those laws work so only White Right folks can have that privilege? I am sure the Rittenhouse White Right lawyers are already on that. It will probably have to do with letting police (and young white guys) kill with impunity anyone who is of color or “supporting” people of color. Oh wait again! Don’t we already have that in place?
We who care about our democracy must be willing to stand up in whatever way works for us to call the White Right out for their bad behavior and their anti-American positions, even if it messes with a few Thanksgiving dinners. It turns out that people calling out (in as kind a way as possible) family and friends for their hateful, racist, misogynistic words and actions is one of the most powerful ways of changing those behaviors, when they can be changed at all.
Then, Repeat and act in every way possible that “Black Lives Matter.” Work hard against electing people who can’t say out loud “Black Lives Matter,” without the follow-up phrase “Well,, really, all lives matter” or “Well, you know, blue lives matter too,” or some similar phrase. That follow-up is a sure sign that Black Lives really don’t Matter to them.
Cowardice on the Right is huge right now. The jury for this trial participated in that. I suspect there was a lot of, “what will people think if I cause a young white boy to serve life in prison? He really is a good boy who just got caught up, you know. How can we destroy his life like that?” I wonder if they thought much about the lives Rittenhouse destroyed, and that they were good men standing up for the rights of others.
I know this is a bit mean, but I honestly hope Kyle Rittenhouse is haunted by his killing of Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber and his disabling of Gaige Grosskreutz. He has not been held accountable and may actually believe the BS that he was justified. While he is serving a pathetic Republican congressmember as an intern, I hope he feels the pain of getting a position he didn’t deserve, didn’t work for, but managed to kill for.
Maybe after a little haunting, Rittenhouse can grow into a person with an understanding of what he has done so he can come to know forgiveness. We’ll see.
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