By Jamelle Bouie
...This is a complicated situation, (click here) but a few things are clear. Wisconsin isn’t a “Stand Your Ground” state, and Rittenhouse was in illegal possession of a weapon — under Wisconsin law, it is a Class A misdemeanor for a minor to carry a deadly weapon in the open. There is also no legal right in the state to use deadly force for the protection of property you do not own. And in any case the “Castle Doctrine” only applies to the use of deadly force in one’s home, vehicle or business....
...This is a complicated situation, (click here) but a few things are clear. Wisconsin isn’t a “Stand Your Ground” state, and Rittenhouse was in illegal possession of a weapon — under Wisconsin law, it is a Class A misdemeanor for a minor to carry a deadly weapon in the open. There is also no legal right in the state to use deadly force for the protection of property you do not own. And in any case the “Castle Doctrine” only applies to the use of deadly force in one’s home, vehicle or business....
The militias are breaking the law. They are nothing more than vigilantes and are carrying out illegal activities as self-assigned PROTECTORS of property.
...To the conservative media, however, what happened in Kenosha was eminently justifiable and even cause for celebration....
I sincerely believe the right-wing media is engaged in roles no different than the journalists of Rwanda. A journalist does not have to give explicit directions to kill in order to inspire to kill.
4 December 2003
...Phrases like "go to work" (click here) and "the graves are not yet full" were read by radio DJs during the spring of 1994. A newspaper called on citizens to exterminate the "cockroach Tutsis".
Ferdinand Nahimana, who was sentenced to life in jail, was a founding member of Radio Television Libres des Mille Collines, as was Hassan Ngeze, 42, the owner and editor of the Hutu extremist newspaper, Kangura, who also got life.
"Let whatever is smouldering erupt," Ngeze wrote in the newspaper days before the genocide....
Reporting the facts is not the same as rooting them on. It is a real head trip. Having the power of media and getting results by inspiring killing for the sake of killing.
I did say reporting the FACTS, right?
