When an officer perceives a lethal threat, he sometimes has only a split-second to make a potentially lethal decision. This past Sunday, white officers in Kenosha, Wisconsin, shot a black man in the back, sparking a wild night of vandalism, arson and destruction.
The suspect, Jacob Blake, was involved in a domestic dispute when officers arrived. Some reports say he was trying to break up a fight, but it’s not exactly clear what he was doing. We don’t know what led up to the confrontation with the police, we don’t know why the police drew their weapons and we don’t know whether Blake was coherent.
What we do know is that Blake was unarmed, but has a criminal record and an open warrant for his arrest dating back to July 7. Cited in a Daily Wire story, the fact-finding website Heavy.com says, with my emphasis, that,
According to Wisconsin Circuit Court Access online records, a Jacob S. Blake, same age and with an address in the same block where the shooting occurred, had a warrant issued for him on July 7 on pending accusations of misdemeanor criminal trespass to a dwelling with domestic abuse as a modifier; felony third-degree sexual assault with domestic abuse as a modifier; and misdemeanor disorderly conduct with domestic abuse as a modifier. A support action was dismissed, and the only other case that comes up is for not having a driver’s license.
I watched the widely shared video of the shooting. The suspect is walking away from officers, who are yelling and pointing their guns at him, ignoring their commands. He then opens the driver’s side door of the vehicle and bends at the waist to reach into the car. An officer grabs his shirt to slow him down, and immediately fires seven shots at close range.
Another video, shot from a different angle, shows what happened before Blake walks away from officers. The video starts just as officers, behind Blake’s car, are forcing him to the ground by the rear tire. Although the footage shakes as the person filming it walks toward the scene, it’s clear that Blake is resisting arrest. Somehow he escapes their grasp, stands up and begins walking away from officers.
I’m not an expert, but it seems to me that the shooting is justified. The man resisted arrest, disregarded the officers’ instructions, and reached into his car. Such behavior is inviting yourself to be shot.
If you’re an officer in a confrontation like this, you’re on high alert. The suspect is a known violent offender, has an open warrant, is physically resisting arrest, is ignoring your commands, and reaches into his car while blocking your line of sight. You can’t know whether he’s reaching for a weapon or his insurance card. If it’s a weapon, you have almost zero time to see it, process it and react to it. He has the element of surprise on his side.
In a high stakes situation like that, officers have to make the assumption that he’s reaching for a weapon. They don’t have time to find out if they’re right or wrong. The man is uncooperative and known to be dangerous.
Yet this incident is being made out to be “racist” by none other than the Democratic Governor of Wisconsin, Tony Evers. He issued a statement after the shooting. Listen to how loaded it is with innuendo.
“Tonight, Jacob Blake was shot in the back multiple times, in broad daylight, in Kenosha, Wisconsin.”
“In the back.” Well, yes. Out of necessity. But Evers leaves it hanging there without context, open to interpretation, to stoke maximum rage. If you hadn’t seen the video, but heard that Blake was shot in the back, he couldn’t have been a threat, could he?
“In broad daylight.” Why include this? Because it implies that officers are not even hiding their dirty deeds any more. They’re committing crimes in “broad daylight” as opposed to all the crimes they (allegedly) commit under cover of darkness.
“Kathy and I join his family, friends, and neighbors in hoping earnestly that he will not succumb to his injuries,” Evers said in a statement. “While we do not have all of the details yet, what we know for certain is that he is not the first Black man or person to have been shot or injured or mercilessly killed at the hands of individuals in law enforcement in our state or our country.”
“Black man,” capital “B.” A signaling of virtue to the black community that continues driving the wedge deeper between whites and blacks as oppositional identity groups. The former, according to the narrative, are privileged supremacists who oppress the latter.
“… mercilessly killed.” Why “mercilessly”? Because it deliberately paints the officers as blood thirsty mercenaries who are out to murder black people. They are heartless, cold-blooded killers who use brute force when a black man stands up to them. It couldn’t possibly be that it was a justified shooting, even though “we do not have all of the details yet.”
“And we stand against excessive use of force and immediate escalation when engaging with Black Wisconsinites,” Evers continued.
Does that mean you’re cool with “excessive use of force and immediate escalation” when engaging with white Wisconsinites? The underlying insinuation is that whites are never subjected to excessive force or immediate escalation.
On top of that, Evers blames the officers even before we know if officers used “excessive force.” If a suspect makes a threatening move, you use enough force to stop the threat. And who was the one who “escalated” the confrontation? The cops? No, it was Blake’s resistance and walking away from officers, escalating the situation by reaching for something in his car.
“I have said all along that although we must offer our empathy [to the Black community], equally important is our action. In the coming days, we will demand just that of elected officials in our state who have failed to recognize the racism in our state and our country for far too long.”
“Elected officials … have failed to recognize the racism in our state.” Evers is accuser, judge, jury and, if he gets his way, executioner. He can’t know if this is a case of racism, yet he labels it a racist incident. He can’t know if all “elected officials” have “failed” to “recognize racism.” It’s assumed. It also backs those officials into a defensive posture because he’s accusing them of ignorance. His comments drive a deeper wedge between the police, and the elected officials and the public.
Evers’ statement is irresponsible because it cuts against our system of law, in which everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty. It paints all elected officials as complicit in the racism saturating Wisconsin. It also gives the black community permission to react with rage. If the governor calls it a racist incident, then they’re “justified” in their response.
Everyone has personal agency and, therefore, personal responsibility. The only one responsible for his decisions is Blake, not the police and certainly not all whites. And Evers is malevolent, stoking rage by siding with Blake and criticizing the police.
No wonder we’re seeing America burn down all around us.