Call for action in Jacob Blake’s hometown.
Call for action shared in Jacob Blake’s hometown
EVANSTON, Ill. - For this community, it wasn’t just anyone shot by a police officer — it was Jacob Blake.
Blake, who grew up in Evanston, was shot seven times in the back by Kenosha Police Officer Rusten Sheskey last Sunday.
This Sunday, in the Farmers’ Market parking lot in Evanston, the community gathered to grieve what happened to one of their own.
The church where Blake attended services growing up, Ebenezer AME Church, hosted the event. A couple hundred people gathered, while wearing masks, to mark one week since the shooting. And to call for action.
What happened to Blake “disturbed many of us,” said Ebenezer Pastor Deborah Y. Scott. “Enough is enough.”
Scott called the group to action and to speak out against injustices. Founded in 1882, Ebenezer is the oldest Black church in Evanston.
Scott reminded the crowd of all the times Black people have asked for human dignity. The same protests signs could be used in 1968 as today, she said.
“Every human being deserves to be treated with respect,” Scott said.
The speakers shared their disgust at what happened to Blake, who has remained in the hospital since the shooting. His family said he is paralyzed from the waist down.
The shooting is being investigated by the Wisconsin Department of Justice. The FBI opened a civil rights investigation into the shooting.
The faith and political leaders who spoke during the event called on the crowd to take action, especially at the voting booth. They echoed messages from Blake’s family for peaceful protests.
“We’ve got to be deliberate and intentional about our approach,” said the Rev. Martha R. Holmes of Bethany Baptist Church of Christ. “I say to my young people I, too, am angry. I’m outraged. I’m frustrated. But don’t tear up our communities.”
Stay woke and get ready to vote, is how one church elder put it.
“I get a little tired of saying the same prayers every Sunday,” one pastor said.
Blake and his family’s ties to the community in Evanston are strong. Ebenezer was just a block away from the parking lot gathering. Blake’s grandfather,
also named Jacob Blake, was a pastor there from 1967 until 1976. He fought for fair housing during the civil rights movement. Down the road, an affordable housing complex bears his name.
“I’ve known them my whole career here,” Evanson Police Chief Demitrous Cook said of the Blake family. “I’ve known Jacob junior since he was a little baby. It’s time for a change in law enforcement. I’ve said this over and over.”
“It’s time to do better,” Cook said after taking a pause.
Sisters Phoebe Bradford and Sylvia Jones, who have lived in Evanston all their lives, sat in the front row Sunday as the group condemned racism and police brutality and hoped for change. Bradford remembers Blake and the rest of his family.
“For Jacob, and for all the others, I want change,” Bradford said.