'Help the city:' Kenosha residents brainstorm 'actionable items' for change
KENOSHA, Wis. - Sunday, Sept. 6 marked two weeks since the shooting of Jacob Blake by a Kenosha police officer. The days that followed saw protests, fires, unrest and the killing of two protesters. People are now working to rebuild what was lost and make permanent changes for the better.
Blake's shooting opened a wound that has plagued the country for not just much of this summer, following the death of George Floyd,in Minneapolis, but far longer. After what Kenosha has experienced since the shooting of Blake on Aug. 23, people came together Sunday to try to put the city on a path for change for the future.
The good -- like demanding civic engagement, cleaning up and vowing to rebuild -- is hard to remember when the bad is seared into one's memory, but for the city of 100,000 or so, Kenosha is home. That home was rocked on Aug. 23 and the days that followed.
"I want an end to qualified immunity," said a participant. "I want the police department to act as our guardians and not hunters in our society."
With Kenosha healing, groundwork was laid for what comes next.
"We're learning to heal our wounds so we can actually create change on an intellectual level, and not just through emotion," said a participant.
More than 100 people packed in under a tent across the street from the Boys and Girls Club Sunday afternoon.
"It's vital for the children to have a place to go, instead of being out here and becoming a target," said a participant.
Some called for more dedicated funding for community programs for at-risk youth, and not just talking about the issues, but how to fix them.
"What laws they want to see changed, how can we actually help the city," said Gregory Bennett with Peace in the Streets. "We actually have to start putting pen to paper if we're going to fix these problems."
Bennett and his group raised that question before a handful of local and state elected leaders.
"This is not about posturing," said State Senator Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee. "This is not going to be about Democrats or Republicans. It's not about that. It's about solutions."
Those solutions won't come about solely through marching or protesting.
"Be here when there's need for boots on the ground," said Bennett. "Not to hold a camera, but set a seat down. Help set up something. Plan something yourself. We've got voter registration over there. We got people here to help people get their records expunged. Everything. It's about actionable items, and that's what we have to do."
The Wisconsin Department of Justice is still investigating Blake's shooting.
Blake, who is now partially paralyzed, remains hospitalized.
The U.S. DOJ has also opened a civil rights investigation.
An Illinois teenager, charged with shooting and killing the two protesters, remains jailed in Illinois.
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