On August 23, 2020, Jacob Blake Jr., a 29-year-old Black man, was shot seven times point blank in the back by Kenosha, Wisconsin pig Rusten Sheskey while Blake was getting into his car. Inside the car were his three small children, who watched as the cop wantonly shot their father. The shooting has left Blake paralyzed. More than a year later, on October 8, the Biden administration’s Justice Department announced that no federal charges will be filed against Sheskey. Wisconsin state prosecutors had already refused to prosecute him, and the police said he and other cops on the scene had acted within department “policy.”
The reason federal prosecutors gave for not filing charges was that there was a “lack of evidence to prove the officer willfully used excessive force.” Blake’s father, Jacob Blake Sr., said in outrage, "Seven times in the back, that's not excessive?”
Jacob Blake, 29, shot 7 times in the back by Kenosha police, August 23, 2020.
Last year, as the pig Sheskey walked free, the police shackled Jacob Blake Jr. to the hospital bed for a week, where he lay with a damaged spinal cord, spine, stomach, kidneys and liver, and the loss of most of his colon. His father said, "They shot my son seven times, seven times, like he didn't matter. But my son matters, he's a human being and he matters."
When NBA star LeBron James first saw the video of the pig shooting of Jacob Blake, he posted on Twitter: “And y’all wonder why we say what we say about the Police!! Someone please tell me WTF is this???!!! Exactly another black man being targeted. This shit is so wrong and so sad!! Feel so sorry for him, his family and OUR PEOPLE!! We want JUSTICE.”
In response to Jacob Blake’s shooting, the people of Kenosha rose up in a righteous uprising, which came after a summer of millions of people rising up in protest against the oppression of Black people after the police murder of George Floyd. The uprising was met with riot-geared Kenosha cops attacking demonstrators with tear gas and pepper spray. Within 24 hours, up to 1,000 National Guard troops were brought in. The next day a fascist militia group called on “patriots” to “take up arms” and defend Kenosha “from the evil thugs.” Cops on the scene welcomed these armed fascists, gave them water, and told them, “We appreciate you guys being out here.” One of those they welcomed, Kyle Rittenhouse, walked slowly down the street carrying a rifle before opening fire on the protesters, killing two people—Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber—and seriously wounding a third, Gaige Grosskreutz.
The decision not to prosecute the pig who shot Jacob Blake is a cold hard lesson for anyone who thought the conviction of Derek Chauvin, the pig who murdered George Floyd, might signal a change in what it means to be Black in this bastion of white supremacy.
Shortly before the Justice Department announced that the cop who shot him would not be charged, Jacob Blake said he hopes to be walking again “but I really don’t feel like I have survived because it could happen to me again. I have not survived until something has changed."
Jacob Blake, shot in the back by Kenosha cops, speaks during an interview broadcast on ABC News' Good Morning America, January 14. Photo: AP
Allowing the pig who shot Jacob Blake to walk free is part of the unending list of crimes against the humanity of Black people by this oppressive system and its armed enforcers. Anger and protest against these and many other outrages of the system are righteous. But to really put an END to them will take a real revolution—and nothing less!
