Jacob Blake (1991- )

December 27, 2020 
/ Contributed By: Jena Bady

|Jacob Blake

Jacob Blake in hospital

Image Courtesy: Shermaine Lester

On August 23, 2020, Jacob Blake, an African American man, was left paralyzed after being shot by a white police officer in front of an apartment complex in Kenosha, Wisconsin. While there are conflicting details surrounding Blakeโ€™s arrest, the incident occurred during the aftermath of the George Floyd murder in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Memorial Day, 2020 which revived the Black Lives Matter movement across the United States and around the world.

The shooting of Blake illuminates an ongoing debate focused on the equity of policing in America. Although Blake was raised in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, as a youth, his family moved to Evanston, Illinois where he attended middle school. According to Blakeโ€™s uncle, the 29-year-old father of six relocated to Kenosha, Wisconsin because of a new job and because he was training to be a mechanic. It was also thought that relocating to a smaller Wisconsin city would be safer for his young family.

Blakeโ€™s dream of a better life was compromised when he was confronted by Kenosha police officer Rusten Sheskey. Although reports vary, several consistent facts reveal the following narrative. On August 23, 2020 at approximately 5:00 p.m., Blake wasย in his car with three of his children outside a Kenosha apartment complex. He was confronted by an officer responding to a 911 call described as a domestic complaint. Blakeโ€™s three children watched from the backseat as Blake and Sheskeyโ€™s encounter rapidly grew physical. Although no harm came to the officer, the confrontation ended with Blake being shot seven times in the back.

When the shooting was captured on camera by a passing bystander and posted on the internet, Jacob Blakeโ€™s ordeal quickly went viral. The national outrage caused the public to coin the phrase โ€œJustice for Jacobโ€ and stoked the unrest that followed the murders of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and countless others.

The shooting of Jacob Blake was controversial for a plethora of reasons. First, the officer in question was reprimanded three times in five prior internal investigations. Second, after Blakeโ€™s shooting, the police officer who shot Blake and two other officers were placed on administrative leave while the Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation reviewed the shooting. Often, this process ends with no consequences for officers. Finally, Black Lives Matter and other social justice organizations, fearing the officers involved with the Blake shooting would not be properly reprimanded, began a series of protests that lasted for weeks and ultimately turned violent. The protest and the violence quickly drew national attention including a visit by President Donald Trump to Kenosha to denounce the โ€œriotingโ€ but not the police action that promoted the protests.

The U.S. Justice Department announced a civil rights investigation into the shooting on August 26, 2020 as the protesters coined the phrase โ€œJustice for Jacob.โ€

Currently, Blake remains paralyzed from the waist down and faces a bleak future in which he might spend the rest of his life with limited mobility. According to his lawyer, Blake was released from the hospital and moved to a spinal-injury rehabilitation center in Chicago on October 7, 2020.

About the Author

Author Profile

Jena Bady is currently an undergraduate in Cellular and Molecular Biology major at Northwest University in Kirkland, Washington. Though she was born in Chicago, Illinois, Jena has lived in multiple states where she engages in activism and has a history of shifting the paradigm for the better in every environment. After graduation, she plans use her education and experience to change the lives of thousands of families by finding cures for brain cancer and other chronic illnesses.

CITE THIS ENTRY IN APA FORMAT:

Bady, J. (2020, December 27). Jacob Blake (1991- ). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/jacob-blake-1991/

Source of the Author's Information:

Christina Morales, โ€œWhat We Know About the Shooting of Jacob Blake,โ€ New York Times, September 10, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/article/jacob-blake-shooting-kenosha.html; โ€œKenosha officer who shot Jacob Blake reprimanded 3 times in 5 prior internal investigations,โ€ Wall Street Journal, November 14, 2020, https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/crime-and-courts/report-kenosha-officer-who-shot-jacob-blake-reprimanded-3-times-in-5-prior-internal-investigations/article_2a00e061-3068-51a1-aa4d-63797086e645.html; Scott__ Glover, โ€œAttorney: This is why Kenosha officer shot Jacob Blake,โ€ CNN, September 25, 2020, https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/25/us/rusten-sheskey-account-jacob-blake-shooting-invs/index.html.

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