One hundred businesses were damaged in the rioting and 40 in Kenosha were put out of business. | Pixabay
One hundred businesses were damaged in the rioting and 40 in Kenosha were put out of business. | Pixabay
Critics of Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D-WI) over his handling of the riots in Kenosha a year ago linger on as the community struggles to get back to normal and repair damage from arson and looting.
Some critics claim it may take years for the community to recover completely.
The riots took place in August of 2020 in the wake of a police shooting of Jacob Blake and resulted in two protesters being shot and killed and up to $50 million in damages.
Blake, an African American, was shot several times in the back by police investigating a domestic dispute after officers were unable to subdue him with a taser gun. He survived, but is paralyzed from the waist down.
Riots occurred over the next several days in which extensive damage was done to private property and 1,000 National Guard troops had to be deployed.
Many businesses remain boarded up today.
“Kenosha is coming back, but it didn’t have to happen this way,” Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Milwaukee) said in a tweet. “One year ago the city was ablaze after Gov. Evers failed to provide the resources needed to end the violence. There is a bright line between the First Amendment and riots.”
An opinion piece in The Federalist, a conservative-leaning online magazine written by Evita Duffy, said the shooting was a justified use of force to insure the safety of officers and the children in a vehicle Blake was attempting to enter when he was shot. However, Duffy said liberal politicians and their backers in the media attempted to portray the incident as racially motivated and an example of American systemic bigotry.
She added that 100 businesses were damaged in the rioting and 40 in Kenosha were put out of business for good. She added that lasting scars on the community will remain.
“They weren’t just buildings, but history,” Kimberly Warner, a resident and single mom who owns two businesses in downtown Kenosha was quoted in the op-ed.
A report on Patch.com said police in the community have been holding listening sessions with residents in low-income areas of the city, and have founded what is titled a “Violence Interrupter” program to try and head-off a repeat of future such incidents.
On Aug. 16, the Kenosha City Council voted to equip officers with body cameras and squad car cams are to be installed by October.
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