Jacob Blake’s uncle says in op-ed that attack on Capitol Hill is another reminder that US lives under 2 justice systems

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“Armed white insurgents are allowed to violently attack our nation’s seat of government. Another gauze, beat and fire rubber bullets at people who defend Black Lives,” he wrote in an opinion piece for The Guardian.
Last week – and a day before the riots in the nation’s capital – Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley announced that the officer who shot Jacob Blake, Rusten Sheskey, would not be the subject of lawsuits. Graveley said at the time that Blake was “actively resisting” and armed himself with a knife. CNN has reached out to the district attorney for comment on the opinion piece.

“This legal system calls these people ‘protesters’, and they are protected by the First Amendment,” Justin Blake wrote of the rioters. “Sheskey operates under this legal system, and that is unacceptable. He claimed self-defense after shooting Jacob in the back, in front of his children, also in broad daylight. There is no plausible explanation for this heightened reaction. “

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“The fact that the Capitol uprising and Jacob’s shooting took place in broad daylight shows just how bare the state-sanctioned violence has become,” he added.

Sheskey’s attorney previously told CNN that the officer used deadly force not only to defend his life, but also because he was afraid that Blake, while trying to escape, was trying to kidnap a child on the rear seat of the vehicle on the premises.

Attorney Brendan Matthews, attorney for Sheskey and the Kenosha Professional Policing Organization, said in an email to CNN that he respects Justin Blake’s ability to express his opinion.

“Personally, I wish he had exhausted his energy and his media platform in a productive way that seeks to improve the racial divide in America, not exacerbate it,” he wrote.

The district attorney’s decision last week, wrote Justin Blake, “makes it clear to blacks in Kenosha and Wisconsin that we are not safe in our communities.”

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If the justice system valued the lives of black people, Justin Blake wrote, Sheskey would be fired and the Kenosha Police Chief and Kenosha County Sheriff would resign.

Sheriff David Beth and Graveley declined to comment.

Without citing him by name, the op-ed refers to an article about Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old who faces homicide charges for the deaths of two men, after authorities say he shot at demonstrators during protests against Jacob. The shooting of Blake.

Armed groups, writes Justin Blake, “threatening our community would be treated like the violent terrorist groups that they are, and the authorities would protect us from them. The Kenosha Police Department would adopt the # 8cantwait platform, which requires de-escalation and full reports. to prevent future police shootings. “

Body cameras would be in place, he wrote, and documents related to the investigation into his nephew’s shooting would be made public.

“Jacob would obtain justice,” he wrote. “But we’re not there yet. That’s why we stand up. Jacob deserves better than that. Kenosha deserves better than that.”

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