Being from Kenosha, last few days have been stressful for me. I want to try to put it down in words to see if it helps, just a little.
I hate this city at this point. Honestly, I never had any love for it growing up. People cling to Mark Ruffalo being from here since it's one of the only positive things to even really say about our community.
I've kinda wanted to hate dump every racist shitty thing I've ever witnessed or learned about on Twitter, but feel like that's not worth my mental health. Kenosha is extremely racist though, don't let all the scared white business owners on the news fool you into thinking the city isn't complicit.
My grandparents were actually asked to join an HOA in the 80s, and the sole reason it was created was the neighborhood wanted to make a unified agreement to keep minorities out of that city block. My grandma refused and joined a bowling team with the black couple who later moved down the street. She had a heart attack during a game years later, and the husband saved her life.
My middle school, Lincoln Middle, was in the predominantly black neighborhood, close to where all the fires were. I was closer to Lance Middle, but they sent me to Lincoln. A year later, the city revealed they gerrymandered the school district lines, separating poor and minority neighborhoods to certain schools so richer white kids could learn without having to look at poors or POC.
What really bothers me most and makes this personal though is how Kenosha handled my brother's suicide. My brother, Alex Miller, was mentally ill. He announced he planned to suicide by cop using Snap Chat. He bought a shot gun that same day at the local sporting goods store. It was a Friday, and he had tried seeking help from a doctor but they didn't have an opening until Monday.
He killed himself, in his car, right after posting his suicide note. He never confronted a single cop, but it took a while for the body to be found. In that time, the city went into a frenzy. Our shitty local news decided to so Facebook Live coverage, and falsely reported about there being a standoff with shots fired. They deleted all the footage the next day, and apologized since they probably realized it was slander and literally caused hysteria.
I honestly felt like the cops were happy to deliver us the news that he was dead. The entire time they were at his mom's house, they kept replaying my brother's suicide note snapchat over and over - despite seeing how it was making his mom freak out. Especially since one of the last sentences in the video was him saying goodbye to her.
This was in 2016. What was just as bad as losing my brother though, was seeing how my city reacted. Hundreds of people celebrated his death on social media. I made the mistake of looking at the comments and seeing my "community" openly mock his mom, say racist remarks about him, and how glad they were that a 18 year old was dead.
The Jacob Blake shooting was like living through that again for me. Seeing the same shitty fucking conservative white people rally against a black man I never met. When his condition was critical, seeing strangers hoping he would die after being shot in the back unfairly. All it proved to me is that Kenosha is garbage. Then it happened again with the Rittenhouse victims. They all got their names dragged through the mud.
People think Kyle is lucky his victims had records, but honestly he really wasn't. Most people in town have at least one family member with a drug offense, DUI or domestic violence on their record. The uptown area is heavily overpoliced. Kenosha's incarceration rate is higher than average, especially for black men.
They are more willing to celebrate a FIB as a hero, than stand behind actual citizens that lived here. Like, Michael Bell. I remember when he died, and everyone just pretended it never happened. His dad was rich and white though, so he's been fighting for justice all this time. Over a decade. My city would just drive past the billboards this guy put up or ignore his pleas in the paper. I would hear people say stuff like, "he just needs to get over it". Too many Kenoshans do not want to hear any valid criticism of the cops, no matter what.
baratheonpilled
snowghoul
germansingergirl
turnnoffyourmind
prguitarman
janainaart
titsay
