Kenosha unrest | |
---|---|
Part of the United States racial unrest and reactions to the shooting of Jacob Blake | |
Date | August 23 – September 1, 2020 (1 week and 2 days) |
Location | Kenosha, Wisconsin |
Caused by | Shooting of Jacob Blake |
Methods | |
Status | State of emergency August 25 – September 2, 2020; and January 4–11, 2021 [1] |
Aftermath | |
Death(s) | Two protesters shot and killed |
Injuries |
|
Charged | |
Property damage | $2 million to city-owned property [6] Up to $50 million (Kenosha Area Business Alliance estimate) [7] |
In the aftermath of the August 2020 police shooting of Jacob Blake, protests, riots, and civil unrest occurred in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and around the United States as part of the larger United States racial unrest and Black Lives Matter movements. [8] In addition to street protests, marches, and demonstrations, the shooting also led to the 2020 American athlete boycotts.
The demonstrations were marked by daily peaceful protesting followed by confrontations with law enforcement and rioting and arson at night. A state of emergency was declared on August 23, and the National Guard was activated the following day. Further confrontations arose when armed militia members, whom Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth described as "like a group of vigilantes", arrived with the expressed intent of protecting businesses in the city. [9] [10] [11] [12]
Two protesters were fatally shot and a third was injured on August 25, 2020, by Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old from Antioch, Illinois. At a jury trial in November 2021, he argued that he had acted in self-defense and was found not guilty of murder and other charges. [13]
Jacob Blake is an African-American man who was shot seven times during an arrest by police officer Rusten Sheskey. [14] [15] The incident occurred in Kenosha on August 23, 2020, as police officers were attempting to arrest Blake. Blake was unsuccessfully tasered. [16] He was shot after he opened the door to an SUV he had been using and reached into the vehicle. [17] In an interview, Blake said that during the scuffle he picked up a "pocket knife" which had fallen from his pants and he was trying to put it in his vehicle when he was shot. [18] The officer said he fired when he believed Blake would use the knife to stab him. [18] Blake survived, but was paralyzed from the waist down. [19] [20] He was initially handcuffed to the hospital bed and deputies were posted in his room, [21] [22] but the handcuffs and deputies were later removed and a warrant for his arrest was vacated after Blake paid a bond. [23]
A state of emergency was declared in the county starting at 10:15 p.m., and garbage trucks were used to block 56th Street. Starting at 11:05 p.m., police began using tear gas and rubber bullets in an attempt to disperse crowds, which lasted throughout the night. [24] [25] Near midnight, the crowd lit a small fire in front of a ground-floor window of the Kenosha County Courthouse [24] and at least three garbage trucks and a trolley car were lit on fire. [24] [25]
By 2:30 a.m., a truck in a used car dealership along Sheridan Road was lit on fire. The fire spread to most of the 100 other cars on the lot, damaging an entrance sign for the nearby Bradford Community Church (it did not spread to the church building itself). [25] [26] The buildings surrounding Civic Center Park, along with many downtown businesses, including the post office, Reuther High School, the Kenosha County Administration Building, and the Dinosaur Discovery Museum all sustained damage to their front windows and entrance foyers. [27]
Police scanners stated that a Lenco BearCat armored personnel carrier was damaged by protesters, and a video posted by a local newspaper appeared to show an officer being knocked out with a brick. [28] [29]
Mostly peaceful demonstrations were held during the day. [30]
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers activated the Wisconsin National Guard to protect firefighters and critical infrastructure in Kenosha. [32] The ACLU of Wisconsin strongly opposed the move. [33] The county announced a curfew that went into effect 8:00 p.m. on August 24. [34] Metra suspended commuter rail service north of Waukegan station. [35] The Kenosha County exits for Interstate 41/94 were closed. [33]
Protesters broke a door off its hinges in an effort to forcefully enter the Public Safety Building before being turned back by pepper spray. [36] Teargas was deployed for a second night starting around 8:30 p.m. in an attempt to disperse unlawful crowds gathered near the courthouse, as protesters launched fireworks at police. [37] Another garbage truck was lit on fire, [37] while armed gunmen appeared to be guarding a downtown gas station. [38]
Arsonists targeted a Wisconsin Department of Corrections community probation and parole office [39] and the city's Danish Brotherhood Lodge. [40] Other buildings set on fire included a furniture store, residential apartments and several homes. [41] [30] [42] Firefighters worked into the morning of August 25. [43]
The Kenosha Guard, a citizen militia organization with a Facebook group, created an event page named "Armed Citizens to Protect our Lives and Property" on August 24, and by the next evening the page had over 5,000 users. The Kenosha Guard hosted a gathering for militia members to choose locations in the city to protect. Sheriff Beth stated that the presence of militia members created confusion and complicated the situation. Facebook removed the group and page on August 26. [44]
The Kenosha County Board sent a letter to Governor Evers requesting the deployment of an additional 2,000 national guardsmen. [45] Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth asserted that most of the damage was from individuals with no intent to protest and who were not from Kenosha County. Governor Evers declared a state of emergency for the region, sending in 250 troops from the Wisconsin National Guard to the city. [46]
Law enforcement erected a tall fence to protect the courthouse. Protesters attempted to breach the fence line throughout the night but failed. [47] [48] The Kenosha fire chief said there were 34 active fires and 30 businesses damaged or destroyed and the police said there were arrests associated with looting. [49]
Significant numbers of armed civilians [50] were also on the streets. [51] Police said that such groups had not been invited and were not helpful. [52] Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth described them as "a militia... like a vigilante group." [9] However, cellphone footage showed police thanking armed civilians and giving them bottles of water. [50] Sheriff Beth characterized the officers as "very wrong to say that" to the militia members. [12]
At around 11:45 pm, 17-year-old Illinois resident Kyle Rittenhouse shot and killed two people and injured a third. [50]
Protests continued peacefully with chants and sidewalk art in a park near the courthouse, followed by a march. Riot police and National Guard troops did not have a visible presence. [53]
The Kenosha County Board sent a second letter to Governor Evers requesting the deployment of an additional 1,500 national guardsmen. "Our county is under attack," the board wrote in the letter. "Our businesses are under attack. Our homes are under attack. Our local law enforcement agencies need additional support to help bring civility back to our community." [45]
By August 28, 2020, the state had deployed nearly 1,000 National Guard troops and more than 200 federal agents. [54] [55] The Michigan National Guard, Arizona National Guard, and Alabama National Guard all sent troops to assist. [56]
Protests continued daily through August 29, when about 1,000 people participated in a march and rally. Speakers included the father of Jacob Blake, Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes and others who called for police reform legislation. The group marched to the Kenosha Courthouse chanting, "7 bullets, 7 days", "One Person, One Vote" and "No Justice, No Peace". [57]
Two men from Missouri who had traveled to Kenosha, who described themselves as militia members, were arrested on federal gun charges on September 1. [4] Prosecutors alleged that one of them had told a witness that he was going to Kenosha "with the intention of possibly using the firearms on people". [58] Kenosha County's state of emergency curfew ended as of September 2. [59]
In March 2021, the Kenosha Police Department reported that in addition to at least 250 protest-related arrests in 2020, an additional 55 (49 adults and 6 minors) had been charged with connected crimes. Of these, 35 were Kenosha residents. Additional arrests were expected in following months. [5]
President Donald Trump visited Kenosha on September 1, 2020, to see the damage caused by the protests and to praise law enforcement. He participated in a roundtable, but did not meet with Blake or his family. [60] [61] In a letter to Trump, Governor Evers had asked him to reconsider his visit over concerns that his presence would hinder efforts to "overcome division". [62] Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian and the city's NAACP branch president had expressed similar reservations, with Antaramian saying the trip was "ill advised" [63] and the NAACP branch president stating it would "only inflame tensions". [64] However, Trump insisted he was going to make the trip. [65] Former governor Scott Walker, U.S. Senator Ron Johnson, and seven Kenosha County board members had encouraged the visit. [66] During his visit, he met with store owners whose property was damaged during the protests with at least one owner refusing to be a part of the event. [67] Trump engaged in a round table discussion on community safety at Mary D. Bradford High School with protesters and supporters lining the streets during his visit. [68]
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden visited Kenosha on September 3. The Biden campaign said he had received "overwhelming requests" from local officials for the Kenosha visit, although it was against the suggestion of the local NAACP president and also Kenosha County Executive Jim Kreuser. During this first campaign visit to Wisconsin, Biden met with Jacob Blake's family and held a community meeting. [69] [70]
City property valued at $2 million was destroyed by rioters, including garbage trucks, street lights and traffic signals. [6] Kenosha's mayor requested $30 million in aid from the state to cover the extensive damage. [71] Damage to private property could be as high as $50 million, according to estimates from the Kenosha Area Business Alliance. This includes the Parole and Corrections office, Danish Brotherhood Lodge, B&L Furniture, and Rodes Camera Store, which were burned down. Overall 40 businesses were shut down and an additional 100 businesses damaged. [7] [72]
On October 2, 2020, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives released photos and videos of suspected arsonists, offering up to $5,000 reward for each person identified. [73]
On August 25, Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old from nearby Antioch, Illinois, [74] [75] shot three people with an AR-15 style rifle. [76] Kenosha resident Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and nearby Silver Lake resident Anthony Huber, 26, were killed; [77] while Gaige Grosskreutz, 26, a resident of nearby West Allis, Wisconsin, was injured. [78]
Various people in the vicinity chased Rittenhouse as he ran away after shooting Rosenbaum. Rittenhouse fell down and shot two men, Huber and Grosskreutz, as they confronted him, one armed with a handgun. [79] [80] [81] He then walked away with his hands up at times to the police. [81] He was not arrested by the local police at that moment, but turned himself in to police in his hometown of Antioch, Illinois the next morning. [82]
At trial, Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges. [83]
In protest of Blake's shooting, multiple professional athletes refused to play their respective sports contests that week. It started on August 26 when the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA) refused to take the court for a playoff game. Members of other teams in the NBA, Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), Major League Baseball (MLB), and Major League Soccer (MLS) all decided not to play their games on August 26, 2020. [84] The strikes extended into August 27 and 28 when players from the National Hockey League (NHL) refused to play their playoff games. [85] In response to these events, nine National Football League (NFL) teams cancelled their scheduled practices on August 27, 2020. [86]
During the Kenosha unrest, there were similar protests and riots in Madison, Wisconsin, [46] [87] Atlanta, Georgia, [88] Minneapolis, Minnesota, [89] New York City, [90] [91] and Philadelphia. [92] In California protests emerged in Los Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento, San Diego, and San Jose. [93] [94] [95] [96] [97] [98] Blake's aunt, Nicole Blake Chafetz of Seattle, encouraged peaceful protests while discouraging the violence and property damage that had occurred during the protests in Seattle. [99] The events in Atlanta, Oakland, and San Diego included violence against police officers, [88] [89] [95] [97] and vandalism and property destruction occurred in Atlanta, Madison, Minneapolis, Oakland, Sacramento, and San Jose, for which related arrests were made. [46] [88] [89] [96] [98] [100] [101]
On January 4, 2021, the Kenosha County Sheriff declared a state of emergency and National Guard troops were deployed to Kenosha ahead of the expected announcement regarding whether or not criminal charges would be filed against Officer Sheskey. [102] On January 5, Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley officially announced that no criminal charges would be filed against Officer Sheskey, any other officers, or against Jacob Blake. [103] A rally for Blake was held on January 4. No violence was reported in the city and Blake's family held a peaceful march on January 11 calling for the officer to be fired. That afternoon, the National Guard was pulled out of Kenosha and deployed to Madison due to the onset of the 2021 United States inauguration week protests. [104] [105]
Kenosha is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the seat of Kenosha County. Per the 2020 census, the population was 99,986 which made it the fourth-most populous city in Wisconsin. Situated on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan, Kenosha is a satellite city within the greater Chicago metropolitan area, though it is located roughly 40 miles south of Milwaukee and 66 miles north of Chicago; Interstate 94 runs along Kenosha's western border.
State Street is a pedestrian zone located in downtown Madison, Wisconsin, United States, near the State Capitol. The road proper extends from the west corner of land comprising the Capitol westward to Lake Street, adjoining the campus of the University of Wisconsin–Madison at Library Mall.
John Martin Antaramian is an American businessman and Democratic politician from Kenosha, Wisconsin. He is the current mayor of Kenosha, serving since 2016, but has announced he will leave office in 2024. He has served a total of 24 years as mayor, having previously served from 1992 to 2008. He also represented Kenosha for 10 years in the Wisconsin State Assembly, from 1983 to 1993.
Anthony Steven Evers is an American educator and politician serving as the 46th governor of Wisconsin since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as Wisconsin's Superintendent of Public Instruction from 2009 to 2019.
Timothy Daniel Pool is an American political commentator and podcast host. He first became known for live streaming the 2011 Occupy Wall Street protests. He joined Vice Media and Fusion TV in 2014, later working alone on YouTube and other platforms, where he is known for promoting right-wing views.
The George Floyd protests were a series of police brutality protests that began in Minneapolis in the United States on May 26, 2020. The civil unrest and protests began as part of international reactions to the murder of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American man, during an arrest. Derek Chauvin, a Minneapolis Police Department officer, knelt on Floyd's neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds as three other officers looked on and prevented passers-by from intervening. Chauvin and the other three officers involved were later arrested. In April 2021, Chauvin was found guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. In June 2021, Chauvin was sentenced to 22+1⁄2 years in prison.
Starting in May 2020, protests following the murder of George Floyd were held in the city of Portland, Oregon, concurrent with protests in other cities in the United States and around the world. By July 2020, many of the protests, which had been held every day since May 28, drew more than 1,000 participants. Protests continued into August, September, and October 2020, often drawing hundreds.
This is a list of protests held in Wisconsin, related to the murder of George Floyd, during 2020. Additional protests occurred in late August in Kenosha, Wisconsin in the aftermath of the shooting of Jacob Blake. Protests also occurred in 2020 in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin during the aftermath of the shooting of Alvin Cole.
On August 23, 2020, Jacob S. Blake, a 29-year-old black man, was shot and seriously injured by police officer Rusten Sheskey in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Sheskey shot Blake in the back four times and the side three times after Blake opened the driver's door of an SUV belonging to the mother of his children, and attempted to reach inside. Sheskey said that he believed he was about to be stabbed, since Blake was holding a knife. Earlier during the encounter, Blake had been tasered by two officers, but the tasers failed to disable him and he continued towards the vehicle.
Kyle Howard Rittenhouse is an American man who shot three men, two fatally, during the civil unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August 2020, when he was aged 17. Rittenhouse was acquitted at his trial in November 2021, after testifying that he had acted in self-defense.
A wave of civil unrest in the United States, initially triggered by the murder of George Floyd during his arrest by Minneapolis police officers on May 25, 2020, led to protests and riots against systemic racism in the United States, such as in the form of police violence and other forms of violence. Since then, numerous other incidents of police brutality have drawn continued attention and unrest in various parts of the country.
On August 26, 2020, some professional athletes in the United States began to go on strike for their respective sports contests in response to the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. After the video of Blake's shooting in which he was seriously injured went viral, protests and riots broke out in the city of Kenosha and elsewhere. As a result of the shooting of Blake and the protests which followed, on August 26, professional athletes refused to play in their scheduled sports events, beginning with the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
False rumors of a police shooting resulted in rioting, arson, and looting in the U.S. city of Minneapolis from August 26–28, 2020. The events began as a reaction to the suicide of Eddie Sole Jr., a 38-year old black man who was being pursued by Minneapolis police officers for his alleged involvement in a homicide. At approximately 2 p.m. on August 26, Sole died after he shot himself in the head as officers approached to arrest him. False rumors quickly spread on social media that Minneapolis police officers had fatally shot Sole. To quell unrest, Minneapolis police released closed-circuit television surveillance footage that captured Sole's suicide, which was later confirmed by a Hennepin County Medical Examiner's autopsy report.
Dijon Kizzee, an African-American man, was shot and killed in the Los Angeles County community of Westmont on August 31, 2020, by deputies of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD). For days, protesters gathered outside the South Los Angeles sheriff's station. By September 6, those demonstrations had escalated to clashes, with deputies firing projectiles and tear gas at the crowds and arresting 35 people over four nights of unrest.
On August 25, 2020, Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old from Antioch, Illinois, fatally shot two men and wounded another man in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The shootings occurred during the protests, riots, and civil unrest that followed the shooting of Jacob Blake. Race was a major theme in U.S. media commentary, although Rittenhouse and those he shot were white. Rittenhouse was armed with an AR-15 style rifle and had joined a group of armed people in Kenosha who said that they were in Kenosha to protect businesses.
On the evening of February 2, 2020, Alvin Cole, a 17-year-old black male, was fatally shot by a Wauwatosa, Wisconsin black male police officer Joseph Mensah, outside Mayfair Mall in Wauwatosa. The shooting occurred after Cole refused a command from the police to drop the stolen gun he was holding and Cole fired a bullet as he tried to flee. Two shots were fired when Cole was on his hands and knees, and the remaining three shots were fired by Mensah while Cole was face down on the ground. Mensah was the only officer among the five other officers at the scene who fired his weapon.
Thomas Clair Binger is an American lawyer and government official who has served in the role of Kenosha County Assistant District Attorney since 2014. He was raised in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where he attended the local Washington High School. He ran unsuccessfully as a Democrat for the office of the Racine County District Attorney in 2016. He served as the lead prosecutor in the 2021 trial of Kyle Rittenhouse following the 2020 Kenosha unrest shooting, which ended in Rittenhouse's acquittal.
In the early 2020s, the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area in U.S. state of Minnesota experienced a wave of civil unrest, comprising peaceful demonstrations and riots, against systemic racism toward black Americans, notably in the form of police violence. A number of events occurred, beginning soon after the murder of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, by a white Minneapolis police officer on May 25, 2020. National Public Radio characterized the events as cultural reckoning on topics of racial injustice.
Grosskreutz says he packed his medic bag — and his licensed gun
Rittenhouse turned himself in [...] on Wednesday morning.
arrests were for various crimes that included assault on an officer
setting fires, breaking windows, spray-painting slogans and lighting off fireworks, as well as pointing lasers and throwing objects at officers"; "firefighters responded to at least two dozen fires, including two vehicles