Is the Kenosha verdict a tragedy?

By Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma

The second major Black Lives Matter verdict is in, and it was an acquittal.

After the first verdict, the murder conviction of Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin for intentionally asphyxiating George Floyd, the Rev. Al Sharpton said “we don’t celebrate a man going to jail, we would rather George be alive.”

Many are understandably angry and disappointed after Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted in Kenosha of firing on three protesters, killing two of them. The protesters were angry that a white officer was not prosecuted for shooting and paralyzing Jacob Blake in his home. Rittenhouse, 17 and armed to the teeth, came to Kenosha from out of state looking for trouble. Protesters thought he was an “active shooter,” tried to subdue him and he opened fire. The jury acquitted him in a belief that the state did not disprove his claim that he acted in self defense.

Criminal defense attorneys tend to agree with Sharpton that there is no cause to celebrate a man going to jail. Hurting Rittenhouse will not bring back the people he admitted to killing. The criminal sanction is a blunt instrument, unevenly applied. We can only hope that a fair-minded federal investigation follows and that there will be ample civil recoveries against Rittenhouse, the young man who armed him, and the people who let that happen.

The problem in America is not that a white man like Rittenhouse was acquitted, but that if he had been Black, there is almost no doubt he would have been convicted.

We have way too many people in prison, way too many people on probation and parole, way too many people falsely convicted, and way too many people sentenced for far longer than necessary. The vast majority of those people are Black or brown.

The fact that the system worked for a well-funded white defendant is not something to lament. The fact that it fails for poor defendants, for minorities, for women, for veterans, and for the disabled every single day is a national tragedy, a scandal, and a stain on the brilliant ideals embodied in our country’s founding documents.