White lifeguard accused of murder ambles along
But here’s where physics desert us. If a white man — criminal or police officer — pulls the trigger, time then does something strange. It slows to a crawl, starting with the speed with which the wheels of justice turn.
From the minute he squeezed the trigger (several times) to the moment he arrived dressed in a suit jacket at a Wisconsin courtroom, Kyle Rittenhouse had time on his side.
And isn’t that what usually happens when the shooter is white?
On Aug. 25, 2020, at age 17, Rittenhouse took a Smith & Wesson M&P 15 to Kenosha, Wis. There, he shot three people, two of whom died from their wounds. He traveled there, he said, to protect businesses during protests that erupted after the police shot a local Black man, a man who remains partially paralyzed. Rittenhouse traveled there, he said, to administer medical aid, if needed. But Rittenhouse wasn’t trained to administer the kind of aid that was needed that night, nor was he trained to handle that rifle. For the former, being a lifeguard in no way prepares you for a protest. For the latter, background target practice doesn’t count. When the teenager felt rushed, he fired a bullet that moved nearly three times faster than it would have had he fired a handgun, or at about 3,251 feet per second, give or take a few feet.
The speed of such a bullet was and is immutable. Criminal, police officer, it doesn’t matter who fires. The bullet speeds through the air at a fairly predictable rate.
But here’s where physics desert us. If a white man — criminal or police officer — pulls the trigger, time then does something strange. It slows to a crawl, starting with the speed with which the wheels of justice turn. If the person holding the gun is Black, the wheels race forward. In 2014, Tamir Rice was a 12-year-old Black boy with a toy gun outside a Cleveland recreation center. The Department of Justice said that Officer Timothy Loehmann shot and killed Rice within two seconds of leaving the patrol car, after receiving a call about a man (or, the caller said, it could have been a boy) with a gun (which the caller said might be fake). No charges were filed in this shooting; authorities also announced that no charges will be filed in the shooting of the man whose police-inflicted wounds gave birth to the Kenosha protest that drew Rittenhouse to town.
Rittenhouse’s defense attorneys insist he shot in self-defense, which is an interesting argument to make, considering. There Rittenhouse was, walking around with a gun he shouldn’t have had, and when someone tried to take it away from him, he shot them. I suppose this is an instance where might makes right. Once you have a gun in your possession, you are free to use it when you feel threatened. The possession of that weapon lifts you above the law. On Monday, Judge Bruce Schroeder, the uniquely bad judge presiding over the case, dismissed the weapons charge anyway, based in part on Wisconsin’s laws about gun-barrel size.
Closing arguments in Rittenhouse’s trial continued Monday, and soon the jury will retire to deliberate. I don’t think too many of us are holding our breath. Court watchers tell us that Rittenhouse most likely will walk free. But no amount of courtroom histrionics changes the fact that on that night in August 2020, a boy went off to play police, and two people died: Anthony Huber, who’d pushed his girlfriend out of the way and was still holding onto his skateboard when Rittenhouse shot and killed him, and Joseph Rosenbaum, an unarmed man who’d struggled with mental health issues and whom Rittenhouse shot and killed at close range. Rittenhouse also shot and wounded Gaige Grosskreutz, a paramedic who actually
there to provide medical aid. How much did time slow for the white shooter, Rittenhouse? As if we needed the reminder, the teenager had time to commit several heinous acts, then call authorities, and then amble past law enforcement officials, who, in the confusion of the evening, let him amble past while they went in search of victims. (And yes, we can call them victims. We are outside of Judge
Schroeder’s courtroom.) Rittenhouse had time to go home and then turn himself in — where, according to records released to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel — police called firefighters for a medical check on Rittenhouse, whose arm was scratched.
If you’re white, you don’t get your door kicked in, you don’t get shot in your home, and something that seems as immutable as time slows so that we can all take a breath and have anguished conversations about guns and violence and sons and husbands and nephews and grandsons. We take time to parse the shooter’s background (divorced parents? Check. Video gamer? Check) as we (fruitlessly) seek some explanation as to why things went so badly.
He was such a nice boy, right? He wanted to be a cop.
The white shooter is given time to form an argument, call a lawyer, reach out to similarly privileged people who crowdfund his bail, and prepare for a trial (if there even a trial) so he can talk about that time he aimed a gun on a dark street and killed and wounded people with a gun he had no business having. The white shooter has all the time in the world. Let’s see how the jury of his peers use their time.
Susan Campbell is the author of “Frog Hollow: Stories from an American Neighborhood,” “Tempest-Tossed: The Spirit of Isabella Beecher Hooker” and “Dating Jesus: A Story of Fundamentalism, Feminism and the American Girl.” She is Distinguished Lecturer at the University of New Haven, where she teaches journalism.
Creating an accessible bathroom is an easier process than you think.
Though an accessible shower installation might sound like a complicated project that will force you to be without your bathroom for many days, these types of upgrades can often be completed in as little as one day! What’s more, you won’t have to compromise in terms of style - safety doesn’t have to mean clinical or institutional! NEWPRO offers baths and showers that are available in a variety of patterns, colors and features that will allow you to express your style and personality, as well as your safety needs. It’s safety and serenity combined!
“IF YOU’RE GOING TO TRANSFORM YOUR BATHROOM, WHY NOT CHOOSE A PARTNER THAT OFFERS THE BEST PRODUCTS WITH SO MANY OPTIONS FOR THE MOST COMFORTABLE AND STYLISH ACCESSIBLE BATH!” GRAB BARS:
Enjoy your independence without sacrificing comfort, safety or style. Grab bars can be placed exactly where you would like them in your bath space to give you comfort and peace of mind.
ERGONOMICALLY PLACED SHELVING
Your bath or shower can be designed with your choice of shelving options that can be placed exactly where you want them for easy access to your bathing accessories.
SEAT OPTIONS:
From built-in to removeable seats, choose from stylish seating options offering stability and comfort in your bath space.
LOW THRESHOLD SHOWER BASE:
Low threshold shower base combines safety, style, and comfort together in perfect harmony.
BARRIER FREE SHOWER BASE:
Enter your shower with a barrier-free shower base. This base is designed for wheelchair or walker accessibility with a ramp to make getting into the shower effortless and safe.
HANDHELD WITH SLIDEBARS:
Ergonomic design and placement of the handheld lets you focus on relaxation.
FINISHING TOUCH FIXTURES & SHOWER DOORS:
Choose from a unique selection of fixtures and shower doors in a variety of popular finishes and styles for that “finishing” touch!