Benjamin Crump's full statement on Rittenhouse verdict

quote:

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"If you needed yet another example of the two justice systems at work in America, look no further than the delayed arrest, spectacle of a trial, and acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse. Rittenhouse, a self-declared white nationalist, crossed state lines with an unlawfully possessed AR-15 to be an instigator and provocateur in the anti-racism protests in Kenosha. By the end of the night, he had killed two people and left others injured in his wake. And instead of being arrested on the spot by law enforcement, he walked away scot-free.

"From the outset, this case has pulled back the curtain on the profound cracks in our justice system - from the deep bias routinely and unabashedly displayed by the judge, to the apathy of officers who witnessed Rittenhouse's crimes and did nothing. If we were talking about a Black man, the conversation and outcome would be starkly different.

"But we're not...we're talking about Kyle Rittenhouse, a racist, homicidal vigilante who, like so many white men before him, not only escaped accountability, but laughed in its face. Today, I pray for the victims, I pray for our country, I pray for our children and grandchildren, and I pray that this travesty of a case is an outlier on our path to a more just system, and not a signal of retreat backwards. Because, we simply can't afford it.

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