SO, THIS IS HOW IT FEELS

After watching the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse conclude with a not guilty verdict, there are several observations I want to touch on. You may recall that in the summer of 2019 Kenosha, Wisconsin Police were sent to a call for service concerning a domestic dispute. Police confronted a suspect named Jacob Blake. Blake who is black, was wanted at the time on a warrant for sexual assault and he had a restraining order out against him obtained previously by an ex-girlfriend who had called police on the day of this incident.

Police confronted Blake and attempted to take him into custody. He resisted and at one point broke loose of one of the officers who had grabbed his arm to handcuff him. Blake continued to refuse to comply with the officer’s lawful command to take him into custody. You know where this is going, right? Yes, where it always does. Blake went to a vehicle and now he had a knife in his hand and attempted to get inside. The car had two small children inside, children who were not his. Officers continued to give Blake commands that were ignored. One of the officers, fearing for his safety after seeing the knife, shot Blake. Any officer will tell you that a suspect crawling into a vehicle poses a grave threat, as weapons can be and are secreted inside automobiles. People made a big deal that Black was shot in the back. He was shot in the back because he turned his back away from the officers while holding a knife. Officers are trained to use deadly force to stop the threat. Where the bullet strikes is irrelevant. In this case it was the suspect’s back because it was the mass area that the suspect presented to the officers. Blake survived but today is confined to a wheelchair for life having lost the use of his legs. The city paid out millions in a lawsuit settlement. They shouldn’t have. Blake’s own actions caused his current state. We are in a period of time, however, where municipalities settle out of moral preening and sympathy. The officers have been cleared of any wrongdoing and the use of force has been ruled justifiable. So why then did the city of Kenosha settle instead of backing its officer’s actions? Well, you know why. Virtue signaling. The officers are white.

So, let’s move to what happened after that. You guessed it. Several days of rioting and looting along with fires being set to private businesses and government property. Kenosha police were overwhelmed at the start and basically stood down as rioters had their way. They were ordered to stand down. Small business owners watched in horror as their businesses were destroyed. The National Guard was requested. Gov. Tony Evers moved slow and only after harsh criticism he reluctantly gave Kenosha 250 Guardsmen. That wasn’t enough and after more nights of rioting he relented and provided 250 more for a total of 500. It was too little, too late. Damage estimates were put at $20 million.

Enter Kyle Rittenhouse. Seventeen years of age at the time he went to Kenosha, Wisconsin to help businesses protect their property. Verified reports showed him cleaning up graffiti that had vandalized buildings. One night he was walking the riot-ravaged streets with a semi-automatic rifle to protect himself. What reasonable person wouldn’t feel the need to go armed to protect themselves in riot conditions? I would. Some have questioned why he would have gone there to begin with. That is a reasonable question. The answer is because no adult would do it and more importantly because law enforcement was late to respond with adequate resources to defend life and property. The governor of the state, Tony Evers, refused an original plea for the National Guard. He reluctantly agreed only after he was eviscerated in the media about his slow response as a city in his state was under siege with rioting, and even then he only initially authorized 250 troops. This is where I want to go.

We have witnessed time after time cities being burned and looted as law enforcement is ordered by police commanders to stand down. Apparently, the thinking is that if law enforcement does what they have taken an oath to do-protect life and property, it might further infuriate the situation. Yes, there are actually politicians and law enforcement executives who naively believe this crap. What they fail to understand is that in the absence of state authority (police) to provide public safety, the social order collapses. When this happens, the individual becomes their own authority. They have no other recourse than to provide safety for themselves, their families and their businesses. The result is not pretty, either. This lawless environment left Rittenhouse with no other recourse when he was attacked by an armed adversary who pointed a gun at him, fired a shot while others knocked him to the ground as one attacker beat him over the head with a skateboard. Ask yourself this. If you were in that same situation and you had the capacity and wherewithal to respond in an attempt to save your life, how would you have responded? 

As I previously said, Kyle Rittenhouse was recently acquitted by a jury on all five counts including two intentional homicide charges. This was a politically motivated charging, as it was evident from the early part of this case that self-defense was necessary and reasonable for Rittenhouse to survive the attack.

I would suggest that Rittenhouse was a victim of state indifference to living up to their duty and responsibility to protect people and property. I have said over and over again that tying the hands of frontline officers in riot situations is a failed strategy and inevitability leads to more injury, death and property destruction. These are the same idiots who continue to focus on police reform as if policing is the problem that needs to be fixed. Policing doesn’t need to be reformed, politicians and their feckless police executives do. 

 Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. is former Sheriff of Milwaukee Co, Wisconsin, President of Americas Sheriff LLC, President of Rise Up Wisconsin INC, Board member of the Crime Research Center, author of the book Cop Under Fire: Beyond Hashtags of Race Crime and Politics for a Better America. To learn more visit www.americassheriff.com