From the first night of protests when the number of activists swelled until there was a large presence of citizens demanding justice for Blake, the arrest of Shesky, the resignation of the police chief and sheriff, the gathering was peaceful. Most protesters were BLM organizers and activists, BLM supporters, and community organizers. Black and white. Kenosha, Milwaukee, Chicago. Until the second night when the atmosphere was changed and the agenda was disrupted. The BLM protesters and their supporters, infiltrated by "Caucasian individuals in all black, breaking windows,"
had their narrative of liberation and justice co-opted, again. Listen carefullythe subject swapped for object sound like this: BLM and supporters are "looters," destroyers of property!
BLM, observing the scene in the Kenosha downtown area, spoke to me of "how quickly those buildings went up in flames. They went up in flames pretty quickly."
It's no wonder that on the third night, the number of protesters was less than previous night. "Some screamed at police," but otherwise, it was peaceful in contrast to the "military equipment police drove through the crowd."
At one point, BLM Milwaukee activists witnessed the police driving protesters toward the gathering individuals dressed all in black, "some throwing bricks." Yet, the police focused in on the protesters and the press. Using tear gas, these protesters and press personnel were driven in the direction of the white militia. "Things became volatile then." The protesters were pushed away by the time the self-proclaimed defender of property, 17-year old Kyle Rittenhouse, fired the first shot.
Something about Rittenhouse, in military gear, carting and firing the long rifle, made him visible to protesters but, unfortunately not to the officers in their military gear. Rittenhouse murders two people and injures another!
And then flees the scene, returns to his home in Antioch, Illinois. With his mother! There, Rittenhouse calls himself in. Surrenders. No shots are fired at him! The current occupant of the White House is on the record defending Rittenhouse as a young man, in turn, trying to defend law and order and property and himself, ultimately, from unruly BLM protesters. Never mind that now we have video and eyewitness accounts from unarmed protesters attempting to disarm Rittenhouse!
Black liberation is a constant struggle.
BLM Milwaukee is committed to working in four areas toward that goal of liberation: The organizers and activists want to produce stories highlighting systemic racism, to produce studies on the effects of systemic racism, to organize support for the re-structuring of the department of justice, and to draft economic policies to combat poverty in the Milwaukee area.
But by no means is organizing strictly for the benefit of Milwaukee's Black population. Overall, "BLM Milwaukee's work is an extension of years of liberation work," and, therefore, the Milwaukee organizers will be working closely with organizers and activists from Kenosha and other towns and cities in Wisconsin.
One of the questions we asks ourselves is "what does it mean to be a Black person in Milwaukee?"
You start at home and work your way out.
We owe this fight to those ancestors who were captured, tortured, looted, lynched, terrorized, and exploited.
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