Jesse Jackson Marches With Thousand Against Rittenhouse Trial Verdict

Hundreds of more people gathered at Federal Plaza on Saturday before taking to the streets to protest Kyle Rittenhouse‘s acquittal on murder and attempted murder charges, which brought protestors downtown the day before. The event featured Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. as one of the speakers.

Jackson said he believed the verdict in Rittenhouse’s case sets a “dangerous precedent” at future protests.

“The Rittenhouse decision jeopardized every freedom fighter,” Jackson told the crowd. “Everyone who’s a demonstrator can be killed by a right-winger with[out] justification.”

“We have the right, the constitutional right, to march,” Jackson said at the rally on Saturday. “He has the constitutional right to object. He does not have the right to kill us.” Chicago Suntimes reported.

Jackson announced that his Rainbow PUSH Coalition would hold another march in Kenosha on Sunday, which will culminate outside the Kenosha County Courthouse, where Rittenhouse’s trial took place.

“Nobody has the right to go across state lines a loaded weapon, come back with a loaded weapon, shoot two people and then go home,” Jackson said. “So we fight back.”

In a trial that drew national attention, Rittenhouse was acquitted on all five counts, but activists such as Jackson, Rabbi Michael Ben Yosef, and Bishop Tavis Grant are calling for more investigation into the case, including a federal investigation and an investigation into Rittenhouse’s mother’s actions.

Following his murder trial, Rittenhouse was found not guilty by a jury after four days of deliberation. The 18-year-old was charged with killing two individuals and wounded a third with a rifle during a tumultuous night of riots and rioting in Kenosha in the summer of 2020, following the shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake, by a white police officer.

The defense claimed that Rittenhouse acted in self-defense, while the prosecution claimed that he instigated the bloodshed.

Rittenhouse was acquitted on Friday after a trial that witnessed plenty of courtroom fireworks, including numerous mistrial arguments and Judge Bruce Schroeder dismissing a firearms allegation against the kid.