Posted on 11/20/2021 3:29:24 AM PST by Kaslin
As soon as the “not guilty” verdict was announced in the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, I posted the news on Facebook and Twitter, asking readers if they agreed with the decision. The vast majority did agree, as the video evidence and verbal testimony pointed to Rittenhouse acting in self-defense. For others, however, this was another example of “white privilege” or “white supremacy.” And that, quite tragically, will be one of the lasting legacies of this case: it will be used to further inflame racial tensions when this was never really about race.
I too agree with the verdict, although I don’t believe Rittenhouse should have been in Kenosha with a gun. If he wanted to offer medical help or clean up vandalized buildings, that would be one thing. To show up with a gun, especially at such a young age and without adult supervision or explicit permission of the police was, in my opinion, very poor judgment.
But either way, I do not believe that race was the driving issue, nor should it be made into the central issue. Not for a second.
Rittenhouse did not shoot and paralyze Jacob Blake, the black man shot multiple times by police after his former girlfriend called them for help and he did not obey their commands.
Neither of the two men Rittenhouse killed was black, nor was the man he wounded.
The business he chose to protect, named Car Source, was owned by two, brown-skinned brothers, Sahil and Anmol Khindri. And even if they did not ask for his help, it was not a white business that Rittenhouse was protecting, nor were the rioters primarily black.
Unfortunately, as noted by Ben Shapiro, Rittenhouse “was brought to trial because his case became the center of a political firestorm. In September 2020, Joe Biden featured Rittenhouse in an ad decrying then-President Donald Trump’s supposed sympathy for white supremacists. Members of the Left declared that Rittenhouse was a stand-in for American racism, despite the fact that all three of the people Rittenhouse shot were white. Even after the prosecution presented its case — a case so weak that the prosecution’s own witnesses ended up supporting Rittenhouse’s self-defense case — members of the media continued to maintain that an exoneration for Rittenhouse would be yet another stain on America’s racial record.”
And that, to repeat, will be the long-term, tragic legacy of this case, further inflaming racial tensions and mistrust.
What about Rittenhouse’s alleged connection to the white racist Proud Boys? According to CNN, “There was no evidence presented at trial about this.”
More specifically, as to Rittenhouse being photographed in a bar with members of the Proud Boys, “Prosecutors argued that some of the people he posed with were in the ‘highest echelons’ of the Wisconsin chapter of the Proud Boys.
“The defense argued there was no evidence Rittenhouse knew who they were. The judge agreed.”
But even if Rittenhouse knew exactly who they were – although, to repeat, there is no concrete evidence that he did – that doesn’t mean that the shootings were related to white supremacy.
And if you argue that: 1) Rittenhouse had no legal right to buy his gun (his friend Dominick Black, “testified he had previously purchased an AR-15 firearm for Rittenhouse in Wisconsin” because Rittenhouse was too young to buy it); 2) Rittenhouse lied about being a trained EMT; and 3) Rittenhouse was a self-appointed vigilante who never should have been in Kenosha, none of this points directly to white supremacy and white privilege at all. (And what shall we say of armed, black vigilante militias that have been emerging in recent years?)
Some might say, “Well, it was white privilege that got him acquitted of all charges. It would have been different if a black man had been on trial.”
But that is only speculation (although I agree that, in general, there is evidence of blacks receiving harsher sentences than whites when committing similar crimes). And where was that white privilege in the trial of Derek Chauvin in the killing of George Floyd? The jury found that white policeman guilty of second-degree murder.
Let's also not forget that Rittenhouse was branded a white supremacist murderer before the trial ever took place. That is the real issue.
Writing for MSNBC, Zeeshan Aleem noted that, for some, “the Rittenhouse verdict easily reads like a referendum on the nation’s ongoing clashes over the state of racism in American life: not just an expression of mercy toward Rittenhouse, but white vigilantism.”
Yet that was not the viewpoint he wanted to pursue, writing instead, “But I think that’s probably not the best way to look at it. Instead, this case was both smaller and bigger: It was decided based on a narrow question of self-defense under a permissive law, not Rittenhouse’s ideological predilections. At the same time, Rittenhouse’s series of encounters was only possible in a society with truly harrowing social maladies, including a pathological obsession with guns and a rising culture of right-wing militias. Did Rittenhouse set out to shoot people that night? That question is unanswerable. But the whole situation would never have emerged anywhere but in a deeply ill society.”
That, in my view, is where our discussion should focus, namely, on our “deeply ill society.” And, whether or not you agree with Aleem’s wider perspectives, the issues he raises are certainly issues we need to discuss.
But what we cannot do is allow others to divide us even more deeply over race as a result of the Rittenhouse verdict. Instead, as fellow Americans of all backgrounds and colors, let’s come together to help heal America’s wounds.
Are you with me?
Sorry, but many on the left will not accept this verdict or the truth.
They will continue to make this about race and white rage.
Many of their mindless followers will continue to believe Kyle went there to shoot black people, regardless of the evidence.
Just as many of their mindless followers continue to believe Trump colluded with Russia or Michael Brown put his hands up before being shot.
With so much information available for free so people can make their own decisions, many choose to only listen to the filtered version full of lies.
What’s tragic is the fact that Jump-Kick Man gets a pass.
If he was convicted celebration in the streets and a gun confiscation narrative would be front and center in the scumedia and the commie politicians who are threatened by the real bosses of America, we the people. We need to step up and begin to crush this cancer once and for all!
I could watch for about 90 minutes, but it was so predictable, that it became boring.
The heart break and whining was good to see, but they absolutely believe their own bullshit.
Rittenhouse is a racist, even though he only shot three white perps.
The perps all had long police records including the anal rape of 9 year old boys, but the msm never mentioned those facts.
I'm back to watching old westerns.
The next time that here is a trial like this, I highly recommend that FReepers follow it on Rekieta Law.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbkjX3E0IhuUfPzL0FjSPaw
“To show up with a gun, especially at such a young age and without adult supervision or explicit permission of the police”
What police? If they were there, Kyle wouldn’t have been needed.
Tthe only one using derogatory racial slurs in this whole event was the first guy shot, calling people he didn’t like niggers. The one who anally raped those boys. Oops, I mean the hero of the left!
Same here in Virginia.. Youngkin was a racist because he won and will replace the current dem, who is nicknamed Coon Man. and wore KKK sheets and blackface.
A world turned upside down.
Corporate media are ripping America apart.
Are you aware of the circumstances of the Kenosha riots? That is, what was happening the days before? There were no police around. Why?
"The part of Kenosha that people burned in the riots was the poor, multi-racial commercial district, full of small, under-insured cell phone shops and car lots. It was very sad to see and to hear from people who had suffered,” writes former New York Times reporter Nellie Bowles.
Kyle was there to help defend what was left of the partially destroyed businesses, because the Democrat leadership were enabling the BLM and Antifa rioters. The businesses had no one to help.
The Democrats response to the ruined business was "You have insurance, get over it."
Was Kyle attacked because he tried to put out a fire set by the rioters? He would be dead now if he had not been able to defend himself; even with a gun he was almost killed or maimed by older, stronger men who were trying to do him great bodily harm.
I watched the trial everyday on Rekieta. The coverage with a panel of fantastic conservative attorneys was brilliant!
I don’t want to live with the people who believe this was a race issue. This so clearly wasn’t about race and if anyone believes it is then that person is so painfully stupid they don’t deserve any leeway whatsoever. The split in society is so obvious. Time for a national divorce. Amicable or violent, that is the only question remaining now……..
Unfortunately, everything is a race issue now and will be in the future. Especially as Trump and the GOP continue to make inroads into the Black community. They’re only going to ratchet up the rhetoric. Our local little Commie group here is having a “rally” today at the Old State Capitol, and their flyer depicts Rittenhouse wearing a Klan hood. It’s almost comical.
The author is a jackass. You don't "come together" and "heal" with people whose very existence is built around irrational, illogical cognitive dissonance.
These are the same people who call black conservatives white supremacists. You don't "come together" with stunted losers like this. You stay the hell away from them and make every effort to avoid any interaction with them in your life.
Was that the website where half the lawyers insisted that Rittenhouse’s defense team was a pair of incompetent dopes?
It isn’t a “legacy” of this case, rather it is an old and ongoing op perpetrated by America-hating communists.
but they absolutely believe their own bullshit.
Which is why they must be dealt with. Which is why the decent and God-fearing and unCrazy must eventually take matters into hand. No choice really…
I couldn’t agree with you more.
They better accept it.
there is evidence of blacks receiving harsher sentences than whites when committing similar crimes).“
I’ll call bullshit on that one. Compare a black persons first appearance before a judge with that of a white person. For ALL of my life judges, of all people, have tried to consider the impact of a serious conviction on an individual life.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.