The acquittal was as predictable as it was disappointing.
Yes, it was predictable, because frankly, in this country, such absurd rulings are, unfortunately, nothing new. After all, in my own lifetime, I can remember a bunch of police officers being similarly acquitted even after a severe beating of a black man was caught on video back in the early nineties, before leaked video of such incidents became a thing. It is this same kind of unfairness that has seen numerous unarmed black men shot and killed, while a known mass shooter, Dylann Roof, a young white supremacist who in his own deluded mind was trying to incite a new civil war by killing nine people in a black church, is given a meal from Burger King by police after he was peacefully arrested following the incident. Then there was George Zimmerman, also acquitted of charges after killing a young, unarmed black male, on grounds that he thought the teenager wearing a hoodie looked suspicious. Zimmerman also had other violent episodes as well that earned him legal troubles, including domestic violence and road rage. Still, he gained notoriety in some circles, while becoming a celebrity in other circles. He has since tried to capitalize on his newfound celebrity status to his own advantage, and sold a painting of the American flag that he made for over $100,000. Because nothing says patriotism like a painting from a violent idiot like Zimmerman.
Now, we have Kyle Rittenhouse acquitted of all charges. Here is yet another young white man who, at the ripe age of 17, took it upon himself to cross state lines from Illinois into Wisconsin with a semiautomatic rifle in order to, in his own words, protect private property and provide medical aid. It was not his private property, mind you. He had no business being there, and he was not a certified EMT, as he claimed. Also, as the prosecution rightly pointed out, real EMT’s do not have AR-15’s slung around their body, much less shoot people. And when Rittenhouse shot someone, he ran away from the scene. In all, he shot three people on that day in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Two of those people died from the injuries that Rittenhouse inflicted upon them with his weapon, despite being underaged.
None of that seemed to matter to the jury that acquitted him, however.
It should be noted that the general consensus is that the prosecution did a poor job of proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that Rittenhouse was guilty of what I think most of us know he was guilty of. Fine, apparently the prosecution was at fault, although the judge threw out a misdemeanor charge against Rittenhouse for possessing a rifle, claiming that there were exceptions to the law that is supposed to prevent a minor like Rittenhouse from possessing the semiautomatic weapon that he used to shoot three people, and to kill two of them.
Once again, it seems like the law just too often sides with the aggressive white man. Nobody but Rittenhouse himself can know what was going through his head on that fateful day. But it sure seems like he was just a kid playing a soldier a little too literally. Yet there he was in court, crying like a little boy when describing how he felt victimized, and apparently needed to protect himself, feeling his life was in danger. It apparently was convincing to the jury, who forgot that, again, Rittenhouse had no business crossing state lines with his semiautomatic weapon, and that he lied about why he was there.
Yet, he was acquitted, and he has many supporters across the nation. Not coincidentally, those who support him tend to be Trump supporters. Hell, Trump himself congratulated Rittenhouse on his acquittal. And I saw some Trump supporters proudly displaying "I Stand With Kyle" sentiments on their social media pages.
Just like with Donald Trump himself, I find myself asking how people feel that this rather pathetic individual is worth their apparently undying allegiance. And who knows? Maybe in the years to come, we will see Rittenhouse run for public office. Perhaps in a few decades, we may even see him as a Senator or even making a White House run. It seems that, increasingly, all that is needed is a high profile and a false sense of entitlement. That is what got Trump into the White House. Based on those qualifications, Rittenhouse surely seems to qualify.
What it feels like to me is that this will encourage other people - particularly young people who might mistake comic books and/or video games for reality - to go ahead and take the law into their own hands as they see fit. The whole idea that more guns will lead to less crime feels like it is based on this premise, and this is the reality of that way of thinking. A Wild West approach, if you will, where anything goes. If this does not lead to more such instances much like this would be, frankly, surprising. Indeed, it generally feels like our American society has itself grown more and more immature, and that our justice system reflects this immaturity. It feels like what is regarded as common sense and the obviously correct mode of thinking for many is that more guns will solve our rampant national gun violence. In fact, that is apparently the only solution to this particular problem, according to some people who conveniently ignore that other countries have curbed gun violence by taking the exact opposite approach. Meanwhile, there are more guns than ever here in the United States and, no surprise, there is more gun violence than in any other advanced nation in the world. And we are supposedly a nation that loves peace.
Finally, it once again reinforces that there is a different version of justice based on skin color in the United States today. The message, through various different cases that are not directly related, but seem to reinforce the overall message, is that whites can be excused for killing blacks, and blacks can be killed without any real justice. It does not happen literally all of the time like this, and there are certainly exceptions to the rule. Yet, it also happens far too often in this country to simply dismiss it as some kind of isolated occurrence. If there is one likely lasting impact of this whole Kyle Rittenhouse case, that would be it.
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