Kyle Rittenhouse: Murderer or Martyr?

 By Mildred Robertson

Today we watched baby-faced Kyle Rittenhouse bawl on the witness stand like the child that he is, as he recounted the tragic day that he shot and killed demonstrators in Kenosha, Wisconsin. It is said that Kyle’s tears seemed to move some of the jurors who probably sympathized with him because of his youth.  They may be weighing his actions based upon his adolescence. They may be thinking that no one his age should have had to make the decisions he made that night.  And they are right, because Kyle Rittenhouse should not have been there.

The fact is, Rittenhouse crossed states lines, illegally armed himself, attended a MAGA rally, and went to the protest looking for trouble. He found what he was looking for.  Rittenhouse murdered two people and wounded another.

He claimed it was self-defense. It is hard to argue with his claim, because the folks who could rebut his testimony about purported threats to his safety prior to the shootings are dead. He claims he was threatened by the first person he shot, after which other protestors pursued and threatened him and became his target.

While the defense has done a less than stellar job of bringing it out in court, Rittenhouse set in motion the events that led to the fatal shootings when he decided that he would become a vigilante peace-keeper during the unrest in Kenosha. It is my belief that he went to Kenosha in order to do just what he did. He wanted to be famous, and he has achieved that goal. Since the murders, he has been praised by the MAGA crowd as a hero and martyr.

Whether found guilty or not, he was no hero. Rittenhouse was at a place he should not have been, carrying a weapon he should not have had, taking actions he should not have taken. He did not live in Kenosha, and police had already called curfew. So when Rittenhouse illegally drove to Kenosha (He had no driver’s license), to participate in the unrest, he was wrong. When he strapped on an AR 47 long gun loaded with 223 full-metal jacket ammunition, he was wrong. When he entered a cordoned-off area of town through police barricades he was wrong. When he failed to heed police announcements to vacate the area due to curfew he was wrong.  

No one knows whether Anthony Huber or Joseph Rosenbaum threatened to kill Rittenhouse that fateful night. They are dead and cannot speak for themselves.  The third victim, Gaige Grosskreutz, who was armed and pursued Rittenhouse after the shootings, says that he had his hands raised, yet Rittenhouse still shot him.  But the fact is, these events were set in motion by Rittenhouse himself and his actions. It was he who precipitated the events that led to the death of two human beings, and the injury of another.

While watching the proceedings today, it is clear that the judge is inclined toward the defense, openly displaying his disdain for the prosecution. It appeared that at every turn, he took the opportunity to chastise the prosecution, while giving leeway to the defense. Let us hope that the jury looks at the facts, and not his youth, or his white skin to determine his guilt or innocence. Let us hope that the justice that would be meted out to a black protestor in the same circumstance will be afforded to Kyle Rittenhouse.