Kyle Rittenhouse–seen here flashing a White power symbol and socializing with Proud Boys–became an icon of the Far Right after killing two White racial justice protesters and wounding a third amidst protests over the police shooting of a Black man Jacob Blake in Kenosha, WI. The photo, taken after Rittenhouse’s indictment and before his acquittal, belies the innocent White male protector image cultivated by his defense team and abetted by Judge Schroeder’s biased rulings on what language and evidence was allowable in court. (Schroeder disallowed prosecution references to Rittenhouse’s casualties as “victims” but sanctioned the defense’s use of “looters” and “rioters” to describe the people killed and wounded by their client).
Rittenhouse’s acquittal is consistent with centuries of American jurisprudence that regards White racial aggression as legitimate self-defense and the aggressor as victim.
The trial’s outcome sanctifies White militarized masculinity as both innocent and heroic. Far-right groups, media outlets, and politicians are celebrating the verdict, contributing to a widespread and growing climate of impunity for acts of aggression and violence against Black and Brown communities, as well as anti-racist White allies.
White vigilantes are currently on trial in two other high-profile cases. In a civil trial, organizers and key participants of the deadly 2017 Charlottesville Unite the Right rally await a jury’s verdict on whether they engaged in race-based violent conspiracy and related charges. In closing arguments in the Brunswick, Georgia trial of three White men charged with killing Black jogger Ahmaud Arbery, one defense lawyer argued the White assailants had a “duty” to pursue and catch Arbery. As in the Rittenhouse case, the defense has portrayed armed and lethal White assailants as acting in self-defense.
Rittenhouse’s killings were among hundreds of instances of far-right violence and intimidation documented by Political Research Associates during the 2020 racial justice uprisings and election season.
PRA stands with racial justice organizations and movements against the mutually reinforcing problems of racist vigilantism and systemic White supremacy and misogyny.
In solidarity,
Political Research Associates
November 22, 2021
