Trump prepares key convention speech in a US scarred by latest riots and police shootings
This article contains videos showing the shooting of Jacob Blake and other protestors which might upset some readers.
The 19-second video followed the same familiar script we are all too used to by now – an unarmed black man shot by a white police officer. On Sunday 23 August Jacob Blake Jr., a 29-year-old black man, was shot in the back by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin. His three children – aged 8, 5, and 3 – watched from the back of his car.
Witnesses have said that Blake was dropping presents for a friend’s children and subsequently intervened in an argument between two women. When the police arrived, after being called to respond to a “domestic incident”, they attempted to subdue Blake by tasering him. They then shouted at him to “drop the knife”, despite Blake apparently being unarmed. When Blake attempted to enter his car, containing his three children, the nearest police officer fired at least seven shots into his back – hitting him at least four times.
Thankfully, Blake survived the shooting and has regained consciousness, but his family has said is now paralysed from the waist down. As he recovers in hospital, he is apparently unaware of the protests that have spread across the country following his shooting. Their epicentre is Kenosha which has suffered riots every night since the shooting.
The Democrat governor of Wisconsin, Tony Evers, deployed 125 members of the national guard in Kenosha on Monday following looting and arson that took place across the city. Much of it has apparently been concentrated in majority black neighbourhoods. The city’s courthouse also seems to have become an epicentre for skirmishes between protestors and police. Protestors threw lit fireworks, bricks, and waterbottles at the police, who responded with rubber bullets and tear gas.
Adding to the tragedy, three more protestors were shot last night, and two are confirmed to have died. The police are investigating if the shootings were linked to armed vigilante groups that descended on Kenosha proclaiming an intention to protect local property. The shooting took place near a gas station, where the armed men and protestors had been involved in a verbal altercation.
In an emotional appeal to the protestors, Blake’s family have appealed for calm. His mother, Julia Jackson, said that the damage she had seen “doesn’t reflect my son or my family.”
Blake’s father, Jacob Blake Sr., called his son’s shooting a senseless attempted murder. “They shot my son seven times, like he didn’t matter,” he said as he broke down in tears. Jacob Sr. also said he had no confidence that the shooting of a black man by a white officer would be fairly investigated.
The incident is now being investigated by the Division of Criminal Investigation of Wisconsin’s Department of Justice. Notably, the DCI was set up with the explicit aim of investigating police shootings following a long campaign by Michael Bell whose white son, also named Michael Bell, was shot and killed by police in Wisconsin in 2004.
The Division aims to provide a report on the Blake incident along with recommendations on whether to prosecute within 30-days. So far, it has not released basic information such as the name of the officer who shot Blake. The officer has been placed on administrative leave.
Meanwhile, against the backdrop of the tragedy the US election ramps up with the Republican National Convention now in full swing. President Trump has yet to comment on the shootings other than calling for the deployment of the National Guard, after the governor had already done so.
Trump will deliver his key speech on Thursday evening from the South Lawn of the White House.
With regards to race relations and policing more generally, Trump seems to be trying to have it both ways at the Convention. On the one hand the inclusion of speakers such as Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the couple who shot to fame following the photo of them pointing guns at BLM protestors in their neighbourhood, seemed calculated to play to an angry white Trumpian gallery. Warnings made by other speakers of suburb invasions by anarchists amplified this theme.
On the other hand, perhaps the finest speech of the convention so far was given on the very first night by the Republican’s only black senator, Tim Scott. Scott used his own personal story as proof of how far American race relations had come. He also laid into Biden’s own record on race, highlighting his gaffes and previous support for hardline crime bills tied to incarcerations that disproportionately affects black men.
On the following Tuesday night, this theme was further built on with a video of Trump pardoning Tim Ponder – a black man and former bank robber who had since become best friends with an FBI investigator and founded a charity to help prisoners re-enter society. Meanwhile, Senator Rand Paul touted the criminal justice reform bill that the Trump administration had helped pass into law.
How much this will pay off is unclear. Joe Biden has already taken a stronger public stance than Trump on the shooting. He has called “for an immediate, full and transparent investigation”, adding that “the officers must be held accountable.” Polls in June found that 67% of voters, and 88% of African-Americans, thought Trump’s response to the George Floyd protests had increased tensions. Equally, voters trusted Biden to handle race relations better than Trump 52% to 35%. Among African-Americans these figures stood at 79% to 8%.
Still, Trump’s contradictory messaging isn’t necessarily doomed to failure. Polls show that while the public response to the initial protests was initially very supportive fatigue is starting to set in among white Americans. That could play into Trump’s law and order message.
As for the attempts to soften Trump’s profile on race, his campaign appears to be making the calculation they need only peel off a few black voters in key areas. Considering the Democrat’s reliance on black voters and the narrowness of Trump’s victory in 2016 even a few percentage points could make all the difference.