By Diana Sanchez
Who is Kyle Rittenhouse?
Rittenhouse is an eighteen-year-old boy from Illinois, who at seventeen killed two protesters and injured another when he decided to bring an assault rifle to the Black Lives Matter Protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin in 2020. Now in November 2021, almost two years later, he was finally going to stand trial for his crimes.
What exactly did Rittenhouse do?
On the night of the protests in Kenosha, Rittenhouse along with his friend, Dominick Black, crossed state lines from Illinois into Wisconsin in order to defend a local car business from the passionate street demonstrations. Black gave Rittenhouse a semi-automatic AR-15 rifle that he gifted to him —despite Kyle being too young to legally own a gun—supposedly in order to protect not only himself but the larger community.
Later that night, Rittenhouse shot a man in the head after he allegedly lunged towards Rittenhouse, resulting in the death of thirty-six-year-old Joseph Rosenbaum. After a group of demonstrators tried to provide first-aid to Rosenbaum they saw Rittenhouse fleeing from the scene, so they ran after him yelling to catch him.
As Rittenhouse was running away from the crowd he fired again hitting Anthony Huber in the chest and Gaige Grosskreutz in the arm, resulting in the death of Huber. Despite Rittenhouse running towards police, they ignored the boy with a loaded gun and went to assist the victims. However, due to his social media presence throughout the protests (being interviewed, going on live streams, and presenting himself as “Kyle”) locals were able to identify him, resulting in Rittenhouse turning himself in to the police the following day.
Rittenhouse was charged with, two counts of homicide, two counts of reckless endangerment, and unlawful possession of a firearm.
The Country’s Response
When the details of these events hit the mainstream media the country was divided on what should be the outcome of the criminal trial. The left still believes that Rittenhouse should be found guilty, while the right thinks that he shouldn’t. There were many who claimed that Rittenhouse was a patriot who was helping defend this nation from the protesters, but at the same time, there were those who called him a terrorist because of the killings.
The Trial
When November rolled around, great emphasis was put on this criminal trial because of the impact it could have on the justice system of America. Even though the shooter and his victims were all considered “white,” the fact remains that the men Rittenhouse shot in Kenosha were only there to protest against excessive police violence against blacks. Letting an underaged civilian like Rittenhouse shoot these protestors without negative repercussions can be seen as the legal system working to repress the right of all people to protest against racism and police brutality. There were additional odd aspects to this trial, including the fact that no blacks were on the jury, and that families of the murdered victims were made to wait outside the courthouse.
Moreover, the judge wouldn’t allow prosecutors or witnesses during the trial to call the people killed or the threatened protestors “victims” although he did allow the term “looters.” This made the general public suspicious about the judge’s intentions, since his actions suggested early on that the trial was going to be biased in Rittenhouse’s favor.
Lastly, prosecutors weren’t able to use some pieces of incriminating evidence, including a video of Rittenhouse taken days prior to the shooting, where he states that if he had a gun he would go into a store and start shooting people. Lawyers were unable to use this video since the judge said he didn’t think it belonged in the trial, because it was filmed before the events.
On November 19th, Kyle Rittenhouse was found not guilty of all his charges.
After The Verdict
Upon hearing the verdict from the trial, some people took to the streets to protest, while others weren’t surprised at the result. In Boston and Brooklyn, there were angry protests against the verdict of the jury, while others went on Twitter to express their thoughts and emotions about the outcome. People wrote about how they didn’t see the jury finding Kyle guilty because they were all white and the judge showed signs of being prejudiced.
This trial became a symbol of where the United States’ justice system is crippled. It’s clear from all the events leading up to this trial, and the Rittenhouse trial itself, that overall the United States remains reluctant to point out errors of racial bias by white people. The guiding ideology of White Supremacy in America has been identified, but little is done to punish racist people in power. This makes those entitled individuals continue to behave as if the system is on their side.