Kenosha Youth for Jacob Blake

On August 23rd, 2020, Jacob Blake was shot in the back seven times in my hometown of Kenosha, WI. It came towards the end of a Summer spent observing other injustices and unrest elsewhere in the country, as the Black Lives Matter movement turns the attention of the nation towards racism not only in law enforcement, but in the greater systems and cultures within this country. 

Protests ensued immediately that night and ended with law enforcement using force against protestors in Civic Park, the impromptu hub for protests over the last week. If you’ve been paying attention to Kenosha, you may have seen pictures of garbage trucks on fire, may have seen the livestreams of cars exploding, perhaps you’ve seen the footage floating around on the internet of Kyle Rittenhouse opening fire on protestors on Tuesday night. 

I remember the tones of shock and dread hanging in the air that Sunday night after everyone had seen the video and began speculating about what would happen to our town after it came out. Most of all, I recognize the anger and frustration not only in this community itself, but in the whole country as this happens again and again. 

I see this sentiment being passed around, this notion that Kenosha is not the same as Minneapolis or Portland, that our city cannot sustain action similar to the larger cities also experiencing these injustices. I see this disbelief that these things “could ever happen here”. But Kenosha was never exempt to the racism that allowed Jacob Blake to be shot seven times in the back, and while it is much smaller than the other cities we’ve seen affected by these conflicts, as we have seen, a town like this is definitely not exempt to the natural responses to injustice. 

I see the words “Violence” and “Protest” being thrown around in headlines being fed to the country by media outlets covering what’s happening in Kenosha. Having grown up here and been present for this tumultuous time here, I cannot draft my article the same. Over the past week I have seen the beauty of the people in this community coming together, whether it’s their unity in marching together down some of the busiest streets in this town, their resilience in coming together to clean and repair damage, or their attempts to change the narrative downtown by covering boarded up windows with murals. 

I am writing this on the last day of our curfew (so far). As a young person in this community, I’ve wondered what other people my age have to say about what’s going on in their city. I want to capture the voices of the people who are to inherit this city, the college and high school students who call Kenosha home. So I spoke with young adults throughout the city and recorded their opinions on the matter, and it is my pleasure to present you with the perspectives of youth in Kenosha, WI. As equal members of this community, their voices deserve to be heard right now. I am so thankful for those who were willing to speak with me and brave enough to have their thoughts out there somewhere in this. 

Know that the images here come directly from downtown Kenosha, where people have come together to create something special, to show the rest of the country what this place is truly about. Kenosha harbors the forces for something so horrible to happen here, but know that it also harbors the strength and unity to come together for the greatest good.