Not even a week into 2021 and seems like the historic ‘Black Lives Matter’ unrest that shook the US in 2020 has largely been dissolved by the authorities as crimes against black people by police officers topple in the country.
The latest to join the list is the shooting of Jacob Blake and the verdict that followed in the case.
A Black man, Jacob Blake, was shot 7 times in his back by a white cop Rusten Sheskey in Kenosha on 23rd August 2020 when he was about to sit into his car. Though it started an uproar in the United States, the decision of a District Attorney that came on Tuesday did not appear to take the demand of the people in account.
The Wisconsin prosecutor remained that he will not be filing any criminal charges against the white officer who shot Mr. Blake, making him paralyzed waist down.
According to the police, Mr. Blake resisted arrest and was acting “erratic”. They also claimed that he was trying to kidnap his own children, during a case of custody, who were sitting in the backseat of the car he was getting into apart from being armed with a knife.
However, investigators said a knife was found lying on the floor of the vehicle and not with the man himself. His father said that if the cops shot his son as he was a threat to the children, why would they do so when he was getting into the car as that would mean sending the children into a bigger risk of getting harmed.
“It is our decision that no charges will be filed,” Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley said during a news conference on Tuesday.
“I do not believe the state … would be able to prove that the privilege of self-defence is not available” and he “would have to disprove the clear expression of these officers that they had to fire a weapon to defend themselves,” he said.
The Attorney said that prior to the conference, he was told Blake of his decision and the announcement he was going to make.
Social media was bustling with angry reactions over Graveley’s statement.
Ivary Lamarr, an attorney, said that the video was very clear and enough to prove the crime as they did not need a “2-hour explanation” for what their “eyes can see”.
“We are immensely disappointed and feel this decision failed not only Jacob and his family but the community that protested and demanded justice” Ben Crump, a lawyer representing Blake’s family posted on Twitter after the announcement.
Calling it “shameful” and “disgusting”, a US civil rights association working for the rights and justice for Black people, the NAACP said, “An UNARMED Black man was shot 7x in the back. That’s your evidence! Today’s announcement from #Kenosha is shameful, disgusting, and far too familiar to the Black community!”
In view of the August protests where violence had erupted in some parts of the city and self-styled militias came to the region to protest, concrete barricades and oversized metal fencing were installed around the Kenosha County Courthouse on Monday night.
Moreover, the Kenosha Common Council also approved an emergency resolution fearing a repetition of the earlier protests. The resolution would get implemented soon after the announcement and will allow the mayor to announce curfews whenever deemed applicable.
500 National Guard Troops were also posted by Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers to assist the Kenosha authorities in avoiding violence in the area.
