Opinion: Rittenhouse verdict sends a frightening message
After I heard the jury’s verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial Friday, I have no doubt that our nation’s criminal justice system operates justly for white people and dispenses cruel and unusual punishment for Black and brown people.
Everyone watching this trial either saw Rittenhouse's fake tears that flowed down his chubby cheeks, or they sympathized with the young, presumed innocent victim, a homely, misguided person that could be their son. I suspect the jury sympathized and decided to find him not guilty on all charges. A trembling and tear-choked Rittenhouse deserved two consecutive life prison terms without the possibility of parole and 25-plus years for shooting his third victim.
Rittenhouse obtained an AR-15-style assault rifle illegally and then had his mother drive him across state lines, where he killed racial justice protesters in Wisconsin. This unjust verdict gives those white persons on the lunatic fringe justification to kill Black Lives Matters protesters or any protesters they don’t like. Like Rittenhouse, they too will randomly shoot innocent people down in the streets and receive no jail time or punishment, because white people who are violent and commit crimes should never be charged or sentenced to prison because they have blonde hair, blue eyes or white skin and only Black and brown people should be locked up. Without shame or guilt, a white, privileged person can now view themselves as the “victim” and subconsciously believe that they are somehow being discriminated against and victimized.
White Americans should know by now that the God who created them, created all mankind, and that two-thirds of the world’s population is someone of color. When will white America acknowledge its role in our racially biased, unjust, unequal, two-world systems they have created and benefit from?
Kathryn N. Cunningham
Taunton
This article originally appeared on The Taunton Daily Gazette: Opinion: Kyle Rittenhouse verdict sends a frightening message
