Former First Lady Michelle Obama expressed how she is devastated due to the shooting of Jacob Blake, an unarmed Black man, and the subsequent protests that were staged in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Tuesday night (Aug. 25). On social media, she shared a very long message to express her emotions and opinions about recent events that unfolded in this country.
“I’m just devastated by the shootings in Kenosha,” she wrote. “First, the seven shots from a police officer’s gun at Jacob Blake’s back as his children looked on. Then, two nights later, the bullets that killed two protesters, with a young man only 17 years old arrested and charged with homicide.”
Jacob Blake was shot 7 times by a police officer, after he tried to stop an altercation between two women, according to reports. Currently, he is in the hospital, and his father revealed that he is paralyzed from the waist down.
Right after the shooting, many individuals took to the streets to protest the incident and demand justice for Blake. During Tuesday night’s protests, things gradually became deadly, when 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse fatally shot two men and injured a third.
“These past few months, I’ve been thinking a lot about what our kids are seeing every day in this country — the lack of empathy, the division stoked in times of crisis, the age-old and systemic racism that’s been so prominent this summer,” Obama wrote.
“Sometimes they see it on the news,” she continued. “Sometimes they see it from the White House Rose Garden. And sometimes they see it from the back seat of a car. Like many of you, I’m exhausted and frustrated right now. It’s a weight that I know Black and brown people all across the country are shouldering once again. And we’re so often left wondering how things will get better.”
Then, Michelle Obama shared a link which listed several resources that have been made available through the Obama Foundation. Moreover, she urged readers to register to vote and ensure that all of their information is accurate and updated.
© 2020, Jonathan P-Wright. All rights reserved.
