Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley has announced that no criminal charges will be filed against officer Rusten Sheskey for shooting Jacob Blake Jr. This decision upset many around the country and within the Blake family.
"We expected it. We understood what was going to come when they called in [the] National Guard," Blake Jr.'s father, Jacob Blake Sr., said.
"There was no point in the video that is articulable for an officer to say that he was under harm at that particular point...I think that's completely bogus and I think that is just a rationalization to try to show what is really, essentially, an intentional act," attorney B'Ivory LaMarr added.
While county officials have opted not to file criminal charges, the Blake family will not stop fighting for justice. Moving forward, the Blakes plan to continue the fight for justice on Capitol Hill, in the courtroom and in the streets.
"Now our battle must go in front of Congress, it must go in front of the Senate. We're gonna protest right into the offices. We're gonna go see Nancy [Pelosi] first... then we'll go see the Senate 'til we're seen, 'til we're heard," Blake Sr. said.
"We're going to be proactive and not reactive. Those who want to take to arms have failed at realizing civil rights has not been about taking lives, it's been about saving lives," Bishop Tavis Grant of Rainbow Push said.
In response, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul has said that he is willing to work alongside community leaders to create change with those fighting for justice.
"Wisconsin should adopt a statewide use-of-force standard providing that officers' primary duty is to preserve life and that officers must use de-escalation techniques to avoid force whenever possible," Kaul said.
"And law enforcement officers conducting patrol activities should have body-worn cameras."
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