Letter: Truth versus racial bias

Posted 12/6/21

To the editor:

Rarely is a letter published that so misinforms as Peter Bilderback’s letter regarding the Rittenhouse verdict in the December 1st Barrington Times.   

Jacob …

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Letter: Truth versus racial bias

Posted

To the editor:

Rarely is a letter published that so misinforms as Peter Bilderback’s letter regarding the Rittenhouse verdict in the December 1st Barrington Times.   

Jacob Blake was shot by police as he reached into his car for a knife. Had the officer not fired, Blake’s children very well could have witnessed their father murdering a policeman. The police had stopped Mr. Blake because of outstanding warrants for third-degree sexual assault, criminal trespass and disorderly conduct. Could these facts, and not racism, be why the officer was not charged with any crime?

After Blake’s shooting, peaceful protests occurred during the day, but at night degenerated in riots, looting and arson. Kenosha police were ordered to “stand down” and not interfere with the rioters. Afterwards, the Mayor of Kenosha requested $2 million for damage to city property and $30 million for damages to private property and businesses

Kenosha business owners requested help from private citizens to protect their lives and property, as the police were politically neutered. Kyle Rittenhouse was one of dozens of people who responded to this request. These citizen responders would not have been needed had the police been allowed to actually police and would not have to be armed if the rioters were not armed and violent.

Rittenhouse was found innocent of murder by a jury of Kenosha residents after the jury heard that the first person shot and killed by Rittenhouse had verbally threatened to kill him, had chased Rittenhouse into a corner with no avenue for escape, and was shot after he grabbed the rifle, evidenced by burns on the victim’s hand where he had grabbed the rifle barrel. 

Rittenhouse was then chased down the street by a mob of rioters, where he fell, was kicked in the head by a rioter and then beaten twice over the head with a skateboard. Alas, this rioter perished after learning that a skateboard is not as useful as a rifle for self-protection.

A third rioter pointed his handgun at Rittenhouse’s head and was shot in the arm. In the emergency room, this rioter said his only regret was that he had not emptied his handgun magazine into Rittenhouse’s head. This survivor testified at trial that Rittenhouse did not point his gun and fire at him until he pointed his handgun at Rittenhouse’s head. All of these facts are not TV talking-head opinion, but are televised trial testimony.

Note that in each instance of Rittenhouse firing his rifle, Rittenhouse was the pursued and not the pursuer. All of the shootings were caught on video, so the jury could actually see each occurrence. They found him not guilty because of the evidence that he fired only to protect his own life. Hardly an injustice and not due to lax gun laws.

All participants in this shooting tragedy were white, so where is the racism? More Americans are killed by lightning strikes each year than unarmed black men killed by police. So far in 2021, 830 Americans were killed by police, of which 241 were black. Among these tragedies are 75 shootings and 18 deaths in Providence and 2,344 shootings and 524 deaths in Chicago. How many of these shootings were done by white supremacists?

Mr. Bilderback can dine on all of the white supremacist and lax gun law red herring that he likes, he just cannot feed it to East Bay readers.

Dennis Slonka   

Barrington

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