There is No Justice in a White Supremacist Society: The Acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse
Written by Coralyn Maguigad and Katelin Ling Cooper
The acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse is a terrifying indictment of American values: white supremacy, patriarchy, and a lack of gun safety.
On Friday, November 19th, Kyle Rittenhouse, a gun-toting, (potentially) fake sobbing teenage vigilante, was acquitted on all five charges that would have held him accountable for killing two people and paralyzing another in Kenosha, WI, last summer during a Black Lives Matter protest.
In August 2020, police officers in Kenosha, WI shot Jacob Blake seven times after they also tased him. Blake, a Black man, is paralyzed from the waist down after surviving this incident. He was shot by the police because he had a knife in his car. Meanwhile, days later, as people took to the street to protest the injustice, Rittenhouse, a white 17-year-old, wielded an assault rifle in the streets, in front of police, and survived unscathed.
On the night of August 25th, 2020, Rittenhouse shot a total of three people, killing two of them, all white, in two confrontations. In trial, Rittenhouse claimed he acted out of self-defense because he was being attacked by protestors. He turned himself into the police in his hometown of Antioch, IL the same night and faced a total of seven charges, with two of them–possession of a weapon as a minor and being out past curfew–having been dismissed by the judge. A unanimous jury found him not guilty on the other five counts.
These are the undisputed facts. The case, however, has polarized the country yet again as we debate the humanity of people of color and face a justice system that does not treat people equally.
What is Justice?
Black U.S. Americans are overrepresented in the population of incarcerated people, and studies have shown that Black defendants receive sentences 10% longer than white counterparts charged with similar crimes. There are countless stats and examples of ways the judicial system favors white men over their victims and over people of color.
For the past couple of weeks as the trial had been taking place, I have seen photos and videos of Rittenhouse that have truly terrified me. Pictures of the 18-year-old Blue Lives Matter supporter depict him as smug, casually getting away with murder. Clips of him sobbing on the stand while testifying proves how quickly U.S. American society will swoop in to protect the perceived innocence of a white man making childish mistakes.
People of color, particularly Black people, cannot afford childish mistakes. Any mistake or sometimes even less can cost them their lives or their livelihoods. Black and brown youth nationwide are automatically deemed delinquent by media overrepresentation, as professor Carl Suddler writes in his book “Presumed Criminal: Black Youth and the Justice System in Postwar New York.” Not only does media sensationalism facilitate mass fear and paranoia among the USAmerican public writ large, but it also has an insidious ability to publicly create criminal bias outcomes of trials by media through intentional rhetoric that paints Black youth as “hoodlums” while lamenting violent white youths as victims.
Rittenhouse will continue to be a threat to people of color and activists, even after he was found not guilty.
As a woman of color, I have watched white men kill people and be peacefully escorted to jail. I have read accounts of white men raping unconcious women and be defended due to his “potential” and “lack of appetite” (see: Brock Turner).
No one is surprised; everyone is guilty.
Clearly, this is exactly how the criminal punishment system is built to run.
I am no longer surprised when white men get away with rape and murder. The speed at which Republican representatives offered to hire Rittenhouse, the ease at which we forget the victims of the crimes of white men, the double standards that hold society as we know it together; it’s all terrifying.
I am a woman of color and an activist. The acquittal of Rittenhouse proves that my life, my freedoms, and my body are not safe from the violent “mistakes”–aka crimes–of white men. We will never know if Rittenhouse is truly remorseful for his actions, if he has learned from what the judicial system decided was a mistake, and if he will go on to lead a life of accountability.
Unfortunately, though, I wouldn’t bet any money on it.
When the never-ending trials come to a close, how does one begin to adequately address harm and the concept of reparations; how can we engage in community accountability and healing when held in the clutches of white supremacy?
It is hard to learn to take responsibility and address the racist implicit biases that cause people like Rittenhouse to kill people asking for it to be recognized that Black people matter when society is quick to dismiss their crimes.
This pattern is so much larger than Rittenhouse himself; now, he is a stand-in for all those who have come before him and those who will come after him, those that engage in acts of violence sanctioned by the state; a youthful cherub face for the “perceived innocence” of white supremacy.
Once again, I ask, what is justice? What is justice without healing? What does it mean to the families of people who have had their lives taken away by human manifestations of systemic oppression? Do we truly experience emotional satisfaction when someone is prosecuted, when another person is sent to prison? Out of sight, out of mind, isn’t that right?
Accountability can be more than being found guilty of a crime. In an abolitionist framework, even Rittenhouse would not go to prison. Rittenhouse was not found guilty of homicide because it’s not entirely his fault.
Rittenhouse has grown up in a world where his mistakes are just mistakes, his ability to wield a gun is a constitutional right, and the affirmation of Black lives is a threat to his existence. Rittenhouse came of age in a world where the former president took his side and current Congressional Representatives fight over who gets to boost him up in society.
Kyle Rittenhouse is just another white guy living in a white guy’s world. He is just one of millions of examples of the systemic oppression at play in the United States. His acquittal is just another confirmation that our society will protect people like Rittenhouse at the expense of people of color and other activists trying to make a different world than the one that results in a man like Kyle Rittenhouse.
Header photo via (Life-Matters / Pexels)
