Last Monday, August 25, a police officer shot Jacob Blake, a Black man. For some reason, Black Lives Matter (BLM) rioters across the country took this as a sign that they could destroy property and vandalize statues for social justice.
On the same day, BLM protestors pulled down the statue of a dinosaur outside the Kenosha Dinosaur Discovery Museum.
Kenosha, Jacob Blake and a spike in crimes
Last August 24, rioters burned at least three garbage trucks and shattered the windows of several businesses in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The unrest took place after Blake's shooting on August 23, Sunday.
On Sunday, police shot Blake sometime after 5:11 p.m. The encounter was partially captured in a video and an officer could be seen firing several shots at close range into Blake's back.
As of August 24, Blake is in serious condition at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee. At 9 a.m. Monday, garbage trucks blocked the street outside the County Courthouse while at least 16 sheriff’s deputies wearing helmets and holding shields were guarding the outside of the building.
In Kenosha, vandals defaced the courthouse with spray paint: “They kill us because they fear us, honor the dead” and “be water, spread fire.” Rioters also damaged several buildings, like the Harborside Academy charter school, a law firm, the public library, the USPS building, the county register of deeds and the Dinosaur Discovery Museum.
Violence against the police
Following the shooting on Sunday night, large crowds gathered at the scene of the altercation. Podcaster Koerri Elijah's livestream showed small fires in the street. A person, who some believe may be an officer, could also be seen lying prone on the ground and surrounded by officers.
The crowds them walked away from the scene, and the video showed people walking down the sidewalk and street. Some were riding bicycles with some vehicles accompanying them, and chanting could also be heard.
The video showed people kicking at police vehicles. It also appears that some fireworks were set off. The person taking video said that there were “tons of damage to cop cars” and that the rioters also knocked out an officer.
The violence didn't end there.
At 11:15 p.m., a city dump truck was parked to prevent traffic from heading toward the police department was in flames. Some curious bystanders approached to take pictures until someone warned that the gas tank could blow. By 11:45 p.m., one of the tires blew up and scattered the crowd.
At 12:21 a.m., several hundred people were gathered around the courthouse. Vandals defaced the building and condemned the shooting and police. An unknown suspect started a fire outside the courthouse, which was soon extinguished by officers.
In defense, officers also started firing what looked like tear gas canisters. At this point, rioters started smashing windows at the administration building near the courthouse.
Officers then formed a line behind a police vehicle and continued to deploy tear gas or smoke bombs. In a Facebook livestream by Mercado Media, sometime before 1 a.m. police asked for “voluntary cooperation to disperse the area and leave the park.”
By 1:21 a.m., police formed a riot line and started moving into the park across the street from the courthouse. Within minutes, a firework went off in the crowd.
People continued to mobilize through the city. Before 2:30 a.m., the livestream showed that rioters had once again set fire to another truck in the parking lot of a car dealership several blocks away from the courthouse.
The rioters also set other cars on fire. Bystanders heard occasional pops and explosions as the fire burned through the lot and sent plumes of smoke into the sky. At 2:50 a.m., a fire truck arrived to begin extinguishing the blaze.
Sometime after 3 a.m., the fire spread to the Bradford Community Church. The church's marquee had read Black Lives Matter before it was engulfed in flames.
The men livestreaming called out to anyone inside the building but no one answered. The men then tried to smother some of the flames using shoves while flagging down a lone fire truck near the car dealership.
"Racial justice" and defacing public property
It remains to be seen why BLM rioters bothered to destroy a statue at the Kenosha Dinosaur Discovery Museum.
Twitter user Ian Miles Cheong posted a photo of the destroyed dinosaur for "racial justice."
https://twitter.com/stillgray/status/1298625311391617025
Reports suggest that Blake is still hospitalized, is currently in serious condition and may have lost the ability to walk.
Despite the shooting with the police, so-called BLM "protesters" are doing more harm than good by defacing buildings and setting cars on fire.
Unfortunately, the riots that started last August 24 are still underway. It seems like rioters will continue to destroy libraries, museums and fire trucks until something is done to stop this madness.
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