One can seek a “self-defense situation” and be cheered as a hero

Kyle Rittenhouse is the kid who at age 17 went from his home in Illinois to Kenosha, Wisconsin during a race riot to help militia groups protect property. Rittenhouse killed two men and injured a third. A jury acquitted him of murder. In what I’ve been reading (and will soon share with you) one aspect of these deaths is important. While the riot (much more than a protest) was in response to police shooting a black man, Rittenhouse’s victims were white men protesting the treatment of a black man. Greg Dworkin, in his pundit roundup for Daily Kos, quoted Adam Serwer of The Atlantic with the title Of Course Kyle Rittenhouse Was Acquitted.

In state after state, they have helped elect politicians who, in turn, have created a permissive legal regime for the carry and use of firearms, rules that go far beyond how courts originally understood the concept of self-defense. These laws have made it difficult to convict any gun owner who knowingly puts themselves in circumstances where they are likely to use their weapon—that is, anyone who goes looking for a fight. It should come as no surprise then, that Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges ...

NPR hose Leila Fadel talked to Odette Yousef, who covers domestic extremism for NPR. The right and far right celebrated this verdict. They’re calling for statues of the boy be erected and even calling for November 19 (the day of acquittal) to be a federal holiday named Kyle Rittenhouse Day. But there are darker aspects of that celebration. Since they claim that Rittenhouse was demonized by the media and because they claim that Jews control the media (they don’t), the anti-Semitic messaging has increased. In addition they believe this verdict gives them permission to take back the streets they claim they had “lost” during the George Floyd protests. It also shows them the need to get their allies into local office – such as the judge in this case who was clearly on the side of the defense. David Neiwert of Kos puts it a lot more strongly. Those on the far right ...

demand that more Americans follow his footsteps—urging the likeminded to take to the street now to begin using guns to “be like Kyle.” They have even appropriated his name for their future plans, voiced in numerous celebratory threads: Any leftist protester shot by a right-wing “patriot” henceforth will have been “Rittenhoused.” As we forecasted, the acquittal is now a beacon-like green light granting permission to violent right-wing extremists to openly wage the kind of “civil war” against “the left”—which ranges from liberal Democrats like Joe Biden to the “antifa” bogeyman they have concocted—that they have been fantasizing about for the past decade. In the words of Charlie Kirk’s interlocutor, it’s the signal that now they “get to use the guns.” The bloodlust has been palpable. Online trolls celebrated that “it’s Open Season on pedo-commies” and boasted that the verdict means “there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Those on the right are saying (and Neiwert gives lots of examples of them saying it) that they can seek out the things Rittenhouse was accused of doing and they won’t face serious consequences for it. One can seek a “self-defense situation” and be cheered as a hero for it. In another pundit roundup, Georgia Logothetis quoted Paul Waldman of the Washington Post:

But there’s another possible effect of this verdict: It could change the face of political protest in America. As they share their glee over Rittenhouse’s acquittal, conservatives may now decide that carrying guns — especially military-style rifles — is itself a powerful form of protest that can be used to intimidate both their political opponents and officeholders. Carrying guns openly is, perhaps more than anything else, a kind of speech. It’s meant to communicate a clear message: I may decide to kill you.

Adrian Florido of NPR spoke to several protest organizers around the country. Many are worried. They know the goal is to scare them out of protesting. But they say they will continue. And they will consider and adopt ways to keep their people safe, both while organizing an event and during an event. That includes hiring a security team. Erin Healy, national director for Showing Up for Racial Justice, organizes white people to become protest allies. They do that because police and vigilantes are less aggressive when there are white people in the crowd (though the Rittenhouse victims were white). Healy also said that in the last few days many new people have found her organization and signed up. Colin Kaepernick tweeted:

We just witnessed a system built on white supremacy validate the terroristic acts of a white supremacist. This only further validates the need to abolish our current system. White supremacy cannot be reformed.

Jen Sorensen of Kos Comics showed a few tips of future protests, such as avoid eye contact with those on the side of the street holding guns. Last Saturday Cat Brooks of Kos Prism wrote “Putting white men on trial doesn’t equal justice for Black people.” Examples are three cases going on at the time of this post. First is the Rittenhouse trial that ended in acquittal. Second is the trial of the killers of Ahmaud Arbery, which concluded today with – amazingly – verdicts of guilty for all three men. Third is the civil trial of 14 white supremacist organizations that caused damage and death at their Charlottesville rally in 2017 – which yesterday declared the supremacist groups must pay $25 million in fines. Though two of the three produced justice outcomes after this story was posted Brooks has a few points to make.

None of these—or any of the other egregious actions we’ve witnessed in these trials—are outside the bounds of American justice. They are, however, way out of bounds of anything that anyone with a moral compass would define as justice. They are certainly a clear and deafening message to Black people that this system doesn’t work for us—whether we are in the defendant’s chair or the victim’s casket. These institutions were not built to be just or fair, and certainly not to be equitable. They were built to uphold race-based capitalism, white supremacy, and white male dominance. They were built to control, regulate, and normalize violence and oppression against Black bodies. To hold sacred the vision of America’s slaveholding Founding Fathers and ensure a status quo of oppression is the everlasting legacy of this nation. Ironically, if we Black people demand the courts live up to their own standards, we are in essence demanding the courts continue to funnel Black bodies into jails, prisons, and graveyards.

Matt Glassman tweeted:

Rittenhouse is an idiot, not a hero. Allowing 17YOs to open carry AR-15s is bad law. And the justice system is often miserable to non-whites. But idiots operating under bad laws still deserve just trials based on law; denying them that doesn't improve anything for anyone. Luckily, civil trials can---and, in this case likely will---find fault, too. Bad laws can be changed. And the justice system can be improved. All worthy avenues given this outcome, and all better than seeking a criminal conviction that matches moral desert but not law.

Jessica Sutherland of Kos quoted Amber Ruffin:

White people have been getting away with murder since time began. I don’t care about that. I care about you. And I can’t believe I have to say this, but you matter. You matter. Every time one of these verdicts come out, it’s easy to feel like you don’t, but I’m here to tell you that you do, you matter. You matter so much, that the second you start to get a sense that you do, a man will grab a gun he shouldn’t have in the first place, and travel all the way to another state just to quiet you. That’s the power you have. So don’t forget it.