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One year after the shooting of Jacob Blake, some in Kenosha 'don’t want to move on'
Kenosha community activist Porche Bennett-Bey, 2nd from left, goes over dance moves with Danaria Miller, 13, far left, Laniya Peoples, 11 and Jeriqua Webb, 7, from the Kenosha’s G.E.M.S (Girls Empowered and Motivated) in their choreography during practice on Friday, Aug. 13, 2021 at Lincoln Park in Kenosha. A year ago Bennett-Bey was on the frontline fighting for justice for Jacob Blake who was shot seven times by a Kenosha Police Officer. Her fight continues, but out of the unrest she also wanted to provide positive influences for the girls in her community. Angela Peterson/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
KENOSHA, Wis. – A year later, the wounds run deep, the problems remain unresolved and the way forward for the community is as murky as fog rolling in off Lake Michigan.
The community is still coming to grips with all that happened over three tumultuous summer days and nights that began Aug. 23, 2020, when Jacob Blake was shot by a police officer , the incident captured on video.
Civil unrest, destruction and more bloodshed followed as the country came face-to-face with its stark divisions over race and policing.
Two men fighting for the presidency made pilgrimages to the city, bearing different messages. Donald Trump denounced "domestic terrorism." Joe Biden lamented "institutional racism."
Some said it's better to move on, others worry that will leave issues of race, opportunity and security lurking beneath the surface.
“Kenosha, collectively, is trying to forget what happened. I would say that’s a huge problem,” said the Rev. Jonathan Barker, pastor at Grace Lutheran Church. "There’s a real citywide amnesia that’s happening. It’s very troubling in light of the fact that we needed changes before what happened to Jacob, we need changes now and we’re not seeing that."
Barker and others in Kenosha have been joined by Blake's uncle, Justin Blake, to make sure no one forgets. Over the past year, they have convened more than 70 events – rallies, vigils, sit-ins and food giveaways – and have no plans to stop. They demanded the officer who shot Blake be fired and criminally charged and pushed for an outside investigation of the police department and district attorney's office.
"We're fighting to let you know we've gone nowhere and this isn't over," Justin Blake said.
Joseph Landry, 79, who has lived in the neighborhood for more than 40 years, said residents deal with their day-to-day lives, yet they don’t want to forget what happened.
“People don’t want to move on from this,” he said. “If they don’t do something about this, it could happen again.”
A man-made storm
The broad outlines of the tragedy remain seared in the city's collective memory.
Kenosha police officer Rusten Sheskey shot Blake in the back after responding to a call about a domestic incident at a child’s birthday party.
Sheskey remains on the force , and Blake is in a wheelchair. Neither man was charged with any crime relating to the incident.
Cellphone video of the shooting went viral, causing massive protests that led to clashes with law enforcement and major property damage in the city.
After the first night of violent protests, downtown looked as if it was prepared for a natural disaster, windows and business entrances boarded up.
The storm that rolled through was man-made.
A Facebook group called the Kenosha Guard called for armed citizens to “protect property.” Kyle Rittenhouse, 17, from just over the Illinois state border, answered the call.
On Aug. 25, after curfew, Rittenhouse was involved in an altercation . He shot and killed Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and wounded Gaige Grosskreutz, 26. He awaits trial.
The Jacob Blake shooting was one year ago: The legal fallout from what ensued in Kenosha is still playing out
Is it still front of mind?
At a listening session at the Kenosha County Center, U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil , R-Wis., spoke about his support for law enforcement and increased funding for police.
Roughly 50 area residents asked Steil questions about infrastructure, immigration, health care and whether he thought the state would be locked down again to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.
No one mentioned the Blake shooting or racial inequity.
“So much is going on right now in our federal government that in a local town hall here in Bristol, Kenosha County, that people are focused in on the federal issues,” Steil said in an interview. “I think if we would’ve had this as a hearing on what played out 12 months ago and how to address it, I think it would have been a totally different animal because it’s front of mind.”
For some, it's easiest having it not front of mind.
During the first night of protests, a fire was started at the Car Source dealership. It engulfed every car for sale. The metal skeletons of the vehicles were all that remained by morning.
The owner had no interest in an interview . The business reopened. There are cars for sale. Life has moved on.
Scott Carpenter, owner of B&L Office Furniture, saw his business burn to the ground. He reopened in a new location in October 2020.
Carpenter wonders about the people who vandalized parts of Kenosha – including the person who started the fire at his business.
“What got him to that point to where he felt that he needed to go into somebody’s business and get involved and start it on fire?” Carpenter said. “It’s not like they torched it. They set a chair on fire and walked away. ... But what transpired, what got him there to think this is OK to do?”
Before the protests, Carpenter had decided not to board up the windows of his business because he didn't believe there would be such violence.
“It was so unnecessary, it didn’t need to happen, none of it needed to happen the way that it did,” Carpenter said. “I understand the anger and the whole thing that started with Jacob Blake and the shooting there. I understand the anger in that. But for whoever these people were to go after businesses and start destroying them ... you’re silencing the protest. You really took the light off the real cause.”
For Porche Bennett-Bey, a U.S. Army veteran and mother of three, the Blake shooting was a catalyst to join the protests, and her method of communication was singular. While other protesters threw bottles and launched fireworks in the face of tear gas, Bennett-Bey stood her ground and held a sign that said, "Black Lives Matter," tears streaming down her face, her silence interrupted only by chemical-induced coughing.
She was recognized on the cover of Time Magazine as one of its "People of the Year."
Bennett-Bey said she has found it hard to do simple things.
She said this year's Fourth of July celebrations took her back to the protests.
“Fourth of July was horrible for some of us,” Bennett-Bey said. “We didn’t get a lot of sleep. There were flashbacks, the noises, the sounds. We’re not saying forget what happened, but allow us time to heal. We didn’t get that.”
Though progress in Kenosha has been slow, Bennett-Bey said, the police department getting body cameras is a move in the right direction.
Unity “takes time,” she said.
“But it starts with a hard conversation,” Bennett-Bey said. “You got to be willing to sit down and discuss these things and help each other understand what needs to be fixed.”
Eric Larsen never expected to be part of that long-term fix when he was named interim chief of the Kenosha Police Department after the retirement of Daniel Miskinis in the spring.
He said one reason he signed up for another year – which will keep him in the chief’s chair through 2022 – was to be part of the change he sees unfolding.
Larsen said one of his top priorities is to build community relationships. He said other initiatives are in the works, including a program that would have community members address police officers about life in their neighborhoods.
Asked if there was enough unfolding to make real change, Carpenter said he is “not quite sure.”
“In the Kenosha community, we do get along quite well,” Carpenter said. “I don’t feel that tension there. I don’t feel it. And I really don’t feel it now."
He added, "I’m sure there’s some people that would say different.”
Contributing: Sophie Carson, Elliot Hughes, La Risa Lynch and Ashley Luthern
CREDITS
Jacob Blake: A Year Later was reported and written by Bill Glauber, Ricardo Torres, Ashley Luthern, Sophie Carson, Elliot Hughes, La Risa Lynch, James Causey and Bruce Vielmetti.
Videos: Angela Peterson, Mike DeSisti, Chelsey Lewis and James Nelson.
Photos: Angela Peterson and Mike DeSisti.
Project editors: Thomas Koetting, Greg Borowski, Eric Aspenson and David Haynes.
Digital design: Jordan Tilkens.
Via PakapNews