On January 5, Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley announced that there would be no charges against police officer Rusten Sheskey, who attempted to execute Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, by shooting him seven times in the back at point blank range on August 23, 2020. Blake was shot while his children watched in horror from the back seat of his vehicle. The other two officers who assisted Sheskey in his crime will also face no charges.

While this ruling is a gross miscarriage of justice, it was not unexpected. Since the beginning of the new year, stories have been circulating out of Kenosha about windows being shuttered, buildings being barricaded, and roads being closed. The mayor of Kenosha was given emergency powers and Democratic governor Tony Evers has again mobilized the Wisconsin National Guard, sending 500 troops to the city. The actions taken in the days before this non-decision were reminiscent of the Louisville response in the lead up to the Breonna Taylor ruling.

What the world witnessed at the end of this past summer was not an individual misjudgment on the part of Officer Sheskey, but yet another attempt at cold-blooded murder of a Black man by the hands of a bloodthirsty cop as a part of a system that fundamentally devalues the lives of Black and other oppressed peoples.

After the attempted murder of Jacob Blake, Kenosha exploded. Many marched and buildings were burned. The eyes of the world were focused on the city. People made it very clear: they wanted justice and were willing to do what it takes to get it.

This ruling must be reversed. Sheskey must be charged with and, later, found guilty of attempted murder. His accomplices should be handled similarly. Anything short of this course of action must be met with tremendous resistance by the masses of working and oppressed people in the city of Kenosha, across southeastern Wisconsin, and all over the country. When there is no justice, there can be no peace.

Justice for Jacob Blake! Charge and convict Officer Rusten Sheskey! Demand democratic community control of the police! No more killer cops! All power to the people!

#KenoshaWI #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #JacobBlake #KenoshaUprising

Kenosha, WI – In a gesture of solidarity, several Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) chapters, including Milwaukee and Minneapolis, met with Parkside SDS students to rally in protest of President Trump's visit to Kenosha on September 1. Trump, in a controversial decision, decided to assess the damage to various areas of the city in relation to civil unrest over several days.

The Kenosha uprising began August 23 in response to the near killing of Jacob Blake, 29, at the hands of Kenosha police officer Rusten Sheskey. Despite officials, including Governor Tony Evers, asking the president to postpone his trip at risk of fanning the flames of an already tense situation, Trump made his way throughout Kenosha to survey damage and hold a roundtable with local business owners and officials.

The SDS chapters met at Civic Park, the previous scene of clashes between protesters, riot police and the National Guard, to rally the community in telling President Trump to go back home.

“I was out there to be alongside my community and to bring awareness of the one of many injustices that the police have contributed to,” said Jenni Valladares of Parkside SDS. “Standing back and watching won’t achieve anything.”

With multiple speakers, the event quickly grew from 20 SDS members to a crowd of about 100 people who frequently chanted in support of victims of police brutality and the demand over defunding a racist police force. Speakers included Victor Garcia, a Parkside SDS member who was recently released after being detained by unmarked officers in Kenosha, and Ariana Holmes, a member of the Wisconsin district of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization. The rally ended with more chants and many rally goers confronting the National Guard at the Kenosha city courthouse across the street from the park.

Rory Donovan, a member of UW-Milwaukee's SDS, was in awe at so many chapters coming together with the community.

“When SDS chapters came together to respond to that, we're saying we won't take that lying down, and we're not alone,” said Donovan.

#KenoshaWI #InJusticeSystem #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #StudentsForADemocraticSocietySDS #DonaldTrump #KenoshaUprising

Kenosha, WI – On the evening of August 28, more than 200 people gathered outside the Kenosha Municipal Court building to demand justice for Jacob Blake and the victims of killer Kyle Rittenhouse. The rally was called for by the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, with support from UW-Parkside Students for a Democratic Society, Kenosha EquiTeens, Wisconsin Freedom Road Socialist Organization, and the Chicago Alliance. Many in the crowd held signs that read “Stop police crimes! Demand a civilian police accountability council!”

“I am tired. I am tired of seeing my people dying at the hands of unfit cops,” said Alanna Carmichael, a leader with Kenosha EquiTeens. “I am tired of fearing for my brother’s lives whenever they leave the house. I am tired of fighting for the same justices that my family fought for 60 years ago.”

This protest came in the wake of several days of violence and repression at the hands of police, military and paramilitary. After the fatal shootings on the night of August 25, repression was used against the people in the city. Unmarked vehicles with people who claimed to be police but had no identification stopped people and took them into custody in the early evening and into the night on August 26.

Some of those who were swept up in this wave of mass detention were members of SDS. A mass call-in campaign was organized to get them, and others freed from jail. The call to action generated thousands of calls from all across the country demanding their immediate release. Two of the SDS members, Victor Garcia and Adelana Akindes, spoke at the rally.

“Lots of us were disturbed when we found out about the Gestapo-like police tactics being used by the federal government in Portland, Oregon,” said Garcia. “I had no idea what to expect when that unmarked car with several masked and armed men came out, rushing at me, with fear that it was white supremacists coming to end my life and the lives of my friends.”

Garcia and Akindes both spent more than 24 hours in detention. They were separated from each other after being snatched up, taken to undisclosed locations, stripped, and given orange jumpsuits and a number. They were put into cells with others who had been detained; Garcia with 15 other men and Akindes with eight other women. They were not provided masks despite the close quarters.

“I saw first hand the kind of culture that they cultivate there,” said Akindes. “They used every opportunity to dehumanize us, to make us feel like animals. The goal of them putting us there was to take us off the streets, to debilitate us so that we wouldn’t wanna keep fighting.”

After the rally, the protesters took the streets. They marched through working-class neighborhoods where many of the Black and Latino residents live. The marchers chanted things like “No justice, no peace, fuck these racist ass police” and “Jacob Blake” as passersby made their support known. Many people came out of their homes with their families and raised their fists. Cars driving by would throw their fist out the window and honk. Some even pulled over and chanted along with the marchers as they went by.

Near the end of the march, a few military trucks were spotted heading toward the protest. In a show of people power, the marchers stopped the trucks in the road. They put their signs in the windshield and shouted chants at them. Kenosha is currently occupied by a force of more than 2000 National Guard troops.

Kenosha police and other officials have doubled down in defense of their officers and their actions. The Kenosha police union released a screed blasting what is plainly obvious on the available video evidence as fake or misleading. Kenosha Police Chief Daniel Miskinis said that his officers did nothing wrong in allowing the murderer Rittenhouse to escape without being apprehended.

The situation in Kenosha remains tense, and with President Trump committing to a visit on September 1, it’s likely going to remain that way. As ever, the people will remain in the streets.

#KenoshaWI #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #JacobBlake #KenoshaUprising #KyleRittenhouse

Kenosha, WI – August 25 marked the third night of the uprising that has engulfed Kenosha since the attempted murder of Jacob Blake at the hands of Kenosha police. It was also the deadliest yet, with several people being shot as reactionaries descended on the city. Two of those shot tragically lost their lives.

While the authorities, including the Kenosha Police Department, have yet to release any specifics on the situation, the people who were on the ground recording every moment have been hard at work piecing the available evidence together. As things stand, all of that evidence points to the racist killer being Kyle Rittenhouse, also known as Kyle Lewis – a white 17-year-old young man from Antioch, Illinois, just south of the Wisconsin border.

Reports indicate that as of 11:47 a.m. on August 26, Rittenhouse was arrested in his hometown and is charged with first-degree intentional homicide. Kenosha police and others allowed him to flee the city without attempting to bring him into custody. Rittenhouse is deemed a “fugitive of justice” and it’s stated that he “fled the state of Wisconsin with the intent to avoid prosecution” according to public records from the Lake County, Illinois Clerk of Courts.

Rittenhouse’s social media is riddled with images of him brandishing guns and posing in tactical gear. His photos are overlaid with blue lives matter and thin blue line imagery. He is seen in more than a handful of livestreams from Kenosha last night, carrying what appears to be some type of rifle.

There are specific videos that show Rittenhouse shooting one person in the head at point blank range in a lot between some parked cars. As he runs away from the scene, he can clearly be heard telling someone on a cell phone “I just killed someone.”

While these events are tragic, the story goes deeper than that.

After the events in Kenosha on Sunday and Monday, an event for an armed counter-presence for August 25 went up on social media that garnered thousands of views. The event was titled “Armed Citizens to Protect Our Lives and Property” and was hosted by a group called Kenosha Guard. While it had hundreds of responses, reports from the ground indicate that fewer than 60 armed militia types turned up on the streets.

After the initial shootings took place, several of the livestreamers caught up with a couple members of the militia. These militia members disclosed that the plan of the police had been to push protesters to the location that they knew these armed agitators were amassing. One of them on the video said, “You know what the cops told us today? They were like, ‘We’re gonna push them down by you so that you can deal with them and then we’re gonna leave.’”

This is exactly what happened, as cops and National Guard troops and at least four MRAPs (military-grade light tactical vehicles) advanced on protesters who had gathered first outside of the Kenosha County Courthouse and then in Civic Center Park. The protesters held their ground against these shock troops for several minutes before the soldiers employed a kettling tactic and rained down on them with teargas, rubber bullets and concussion grenades.

As the protesters fell back, taking cover behind dumpsters and makeshift shields and umbrellas, they ran into a heavily armed group of militiamen amassing at a gas station that was boarded up. The armed militia members immediately began to agitate the protesters as they were retreating from the police barrage. Shortly thereafter is when the shootings started.

The police did nothing to stop the shootings, nor did they attempt to disarm Rittenhouse as he fled from the multiple scenes of his crimes. Earlier in the evening, they had interacted with him, offering him water and telling him and the other militia members he was with that they “really appreciate you guys. We really do.”

The names of Rittenhouse’s victims have not been publicly disclosed as of yet, but from one of the videos online, it is clear that one of them was shot and killed while attempting to wrestle the gun away from him after he’d already shot into the crowd. These people died attempting to prevent others from being hurt or killed, and their sacrifice won’t be in vain. The protests in Kenosha will not stop until justice is won, for Jacob Blake and now for these martyrs of the movement, too.

#KenoshaWI #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #Antiracism #PoliticalRepression #Antifascism #JacobBlake #KenoshaUprising #KyleRittenhouse

Kenosha, WI – Protests demanding justice for Jacob Blake continued here, August 25. Barricades have been erected around the Kenosha County Courthouse, armored vehicles drove through the crowd multiple times, and snipers are on the roof firing pepper-spray projectiles into the crowd. One protester was shot in the head after coming up to bring another protester away from the fencing. There are many reports of people being beaten and abducted by cops.

Members of the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and Freedom Road Socialist Organization are participating in the protests.

This is a developing story and Fight Back! will carry an update later today on the shooting that left some dead.

#KenoshaWI #KenoshaUprising