Rittenhouse set to speak at University of Memphis
In August 2020, 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse shot and killed two protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and injured a third. He claimed self-defense. Then, in fall 2021, he was acquitted of criminal accusations in a controversial, heated trial, and became a hero of far-right politicians and Second Amendment advocates.
Now, Rittenhouse is set to speak at the University of Memphis.
What University of Memphis says
The event is being hosted by the student chapter of the conservative nonprofit Turning Point USA and is slated to be held on March 20. Though Rittenhouse’s scheduled appearance has sparked outrage in the community, U of M has maintained that it is legally required to allow him to speak.
A spokesperson provided the following statement:
“The upcoming event at the University of Memphis featuring Kyle Rittenhouse is not sponsored by the University. A registered student organization, University of Memphis TPUSA, is hosting the event. Under the First Amendment and Tennessee’s Campus Free Speech Act, the University of Memphis cannot legally prohibit such events from being hosted by a registered student organization.”
U of M also isn’t the only school Rittenhouse has visited in Tennessee. Last month, he spoke at East Tennessee State University, where he was hosted by the same group, Turning Point USA.
Anger in the community
Still, the event at U of M has left many feeling angry and uneasy. Rittenhouse became famous for killing two white demonstrators who were protesting the shooting of a Black man by a white police officer. And he shot them with a military-style, semiautomatic rifle that he wasn’t old enough to own legally at the time.
When he comes to Memphis, he’ll be arriving in a majority-black city that’s riddled with gun violence and dealing with the state’s loose gun laws — laws that many of Rittenhouse’s supporters would advocate for.
In a series of posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, former Shelby County Commissioner Tami Sawyer condemned the event. She shared the professional contact information of U of M president Bill Hardgrave and his chief of staff, urging people to let them know how they feel about Rittenhouse speaking.
Doc Holliday, the Action News 5 sports director and former U of M football player, posted “HORRIBLE look @uofmemphis!” Another X user said that if he posted what he “actually wanted to say” about Rittenhouse coming to Memphis he’d be banned from the app.
And a web developer commented that “no one in Memphis” wants Rittenhouse in the city, accusing him of being a “douche bag” and “fricking murderer.”
Numerous users on Twitter and Facebook have also encouraged people to acquire tickets to the event — which is free — and not show up.
Who is Kyle Rittenhouse?
Prior to 2020, Rittenhouse was a relatively unknown teenager.
But that August, protests in Kenosha erupted after Jacob Blake, a Black resident in Kenosha, Wisconsin, was shot and seriously wounded by a white police officer named Rusten Sheskey. As The New York Times reported, hundreds of demonstrators marched through the city’s downtown area, calling for Sheskey’s arrest, and dozens of people in the crowd set fire to cars, looted and burned buildings, and knocked down streetlamps. Wisconsin’s governor, Tony Evers, sent members of the National Guard in to assist Kenosha’s police officers.
On Aug. 25, 2020, the third day of protests, Rittenhouse arrived in Kenosha, with a semiautomatic rifle that was purchased for him by a friend, as he was too young to buy it legally. Rittenhouse had come from Illinois to get to Kenosha, alleging he was there to protect local businesses and serve as a medic.
Per The New York Times, Rittenhouse was at one point chased into a used car lot by one of the protesters, Joseph Rosenbaum, who had no weapon. Rittenhouse fatally shot him and ran away, towards armored vehicles of police officers and National Guardsmen. Several members of the crowd pursued him, and he shot two of them, killing Anthony Huber and wounding Gaige Grosskreutz, who was holding a pistol.
Rittenhouse was charged with five felony counts, including two counts of first-degree intentional homicide. During the trial in November 2021, Rittenhouse claimed that he feared for his life and acted in self-defense, and after about 26 hours of deliberation, the jury seemed to agree with him. In a controversial ruling, Rittenhouse was found not guilty of homicide or the other charges.