Letetra Widman, Jacob Blake’s sister, made it clear on Tuesday that she was not interested in apologies or anything other than change.
“So many people have reached out to me saying they’re sorry that this has been happening to my family. Well don’t be sorry because this has been happening to my family for a long time, longer than I can account for,” Widman said according to CNN. “It happened to Emmett Till, Emmett Till is my family. Philando [Castile], Mike Brown, Sandra [Bland], this has been happening to my family. I shed tears for every single one of these people that it’s happened to.”
Widman, who noted that she minored in Black history, noted police brutality and the attack on Black bodies is nothing new, but something she has observed for years, both in her personal life and in her studies.
“I’m not sad. I’m not sorry. I’m angry. And I’m tired. I haven’t cried one time. I stopped crying years ago. I am numb. I have been watching police murder people that look like me for years,” she emphasized. “Not only have I been watching it in the 30 years that I’ve been on this planet, but I’ve been watching it for years before we were even alive.”
“I don’t want your pity,” she added. “I want change.”
Blake, 29, was shot seven times in the back by Kenosha, Wisconsin police officers on Sunday evening.
According to the family, the gunshot injuries left Blake, who is still fighting for his life, paralyzed from the waist down.
The shooting of yet another Black man by police sparked immediate protests, which entered its third night on Tuesday evening.
Tuesday’s protests turned deadly, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, leaving two people dead and a third injured by an unknown assailant. Authorities are currently looking for a man who was armed with a long gun.
KENOSHA, WISCONSIN, USA – AUGUST 25: Protestors confront police in front of the Kenosha County Courthouse during a third night of protests on August 25, 2020 over the shooting of a black man Jacob Blake by police officer in Wisconsin, United States.(Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth told the Journal Sentinel that some sort of “militia” had been patrolling the streets of the city recently amid the protests, however, it was not clear if the shooter belonged to a group.
“They’re a militia,” Beth said. “They’re like a vigilante group.”
According to the Sentinel, a Kenosha resident had suggested that Beth deputize citizens to help with the unrest, however, Beth said he declined.
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