On the ground with Kenosha protesters: “We want justice”

Hundreds of protesters gathered in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Aug. 23 to protest the police shooting of Jacob Blake, which had occurred just hours prior. With emotions strong and tensions high, conditions were exacerbated further by excessive police force directed at protesters, including the use of tear gas and pepper balls. Liberation News was on the scene to talk to those on the front lines in the rebellion against police brutality. The police and rightwing violence our reporters witnessed was a harbinger of the racist killings to come perpetrated by Kyle Rittenhouse. While the immediate anger against racist police terror was palpable to all, a local medic and activist working on the ground emphasized that the roots of Kenosha’s unrest go far deeper than the brutal attempted murder of Jacob Blake. By and large, Kenosha mirrors the plight of working class and Black communities across the Midwest and the nation as a whole. Straddled between Milwaukee to its north and Chicago to its south, Kenosha’s Black community bears the twin scars of deindustrialization and segregation. The disparity between white and Black families is seen by both the police and local racists out of uniform as “ghetto-like,” he told Liberation News. Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/on-the-ground-with-kenosha-protesters-we-want-justice/