Kyle Rittenhouse arrived in Kenosha as a hero in his eyes; he will leave as a martyr, regardless of the jury’s verdict
as a Kenosha county jury begins deliberating the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, we are forced by his gunpoint in august 2020 to now look at the broader aspects of this cultural flashpoint case.
How many other young and impressionable Kyle Rittenhouse-like, gun-lovin' vigilante patriots will be triggered by this case's verdict or empowered by its outcome? They're in every community, eager to find their purpose in life while under the influence of youth and locked and loaded with testosterone.
National Guard troops are stationed in that Wisconsin city to prepare for possible unrest or violence in backlash of a verdict that will be simultaneously celebrated and denigrated across our country. The opposing reaction depends on our viewpoint and possibly our politics, regarding if Rittenhouse acted in self-defense or if he should be held accountable for intentional double homicide.
Rittenhouse has pleaded not guilty to all charges in the fatal killings of two men and the wounding of another man, during a violent street encounter that turned deadly. It has since transformed into a reflective public exhibit of complex, intertwined social circumstances we're all too familiar with.
This court case - like many other recent cases involving justice, race, gun rights, privilege and politics - illustrates more than merely a teenage "boy" who acted impulsively and recklessly when he stormed into Kenosha with a military-style weapon and misguided visions of protecting public order.
Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time, acted his age that night. He again acted his age on the witness stand last week when he committed premeditated emotional breakdown by crying uncontrollably for the cameras, for the world, and more importantly for the jury. I wasn't aware he was a drama theater student along with his membership in a youth police cadet program.
"Kyle did a good job," his mother, Wendy Rittenhouse, told "NBC Nightly News" Sunday.
What else would a mother say?
Me? I didn't believe one teardrop of his long-rehearsed performance. He looked like any other teenager covered with acne and alibis while trying to get away with something he knows he shouldn't have done. In Rittenhouse's case, he's trying to get away with double murder.
Yet again, a high-profile murder trial is serving as a national Rorschach test for our american values, our sense of criminal justice and our stance on Second amendment rights.
"If he didn't have that gun, my son would've been dead," Wendy Rittenhouse said after his six-hour testimony on the stand.
What else would a mother say?
I say he shouldn't have been in Kenosha that night with a semi-automatic rifle and a full chamber of testosterone, eager to join other "militia" minutemen wannabes. It all sounds like many of the same self-appointed patriots who stormed the U.S. capitol on Jan. 6. a few of them have also resorted to tearful apologies to avoid jail time and accountability.
How convenient. How predictable. How pathetic.
Rittenhouse could face life in prison, but this will likely not happen if you've been paying attention to the case. He may be found not guilty by a jury of 12 members selected randomly from the 18 who've heard the case. On Monday, this possibility increased when the judge dismissed the misdemeanor gun charge against Rittenhouse, citing confusion over the state law. Legal loopholes may have lynched the prosecutors' case.
"The judge's decision stunned prosecutors, who argued his interpretation of the law does not make sense," a chicago Tribune story states. "Under the judge's interpretation, it would be illegal for a 17-year-old to carry brass knuckles in Wisconsin but permissible to carry a semi-automatic rifle."
Rittenhouse said he rushed from his home
in Antioch, Illinois, to "patrol" downtown Kenosha and to "protect" property in the wake of the shooting of Jacob Blake, who's Black, by a white police officer. To serve and protect the public are noble traits for any teenager. But not with that type of weapon, which police say was purchased illegally by a friend. Or with that kind of gung-ho, purpose-driven attitude that so many teenage boys have in life.
With each new generation, millions of these young males are desperately seeking any opportunity to prove their manhood, by any means necessary. It's a trait that's not as noble yet as old as human existence.
Rittenhouse said he went to that protest also with a medical kit. But there's no male machismo in medical kits. If only he brought just that - or even brass knuckles - instead of a purposely conspicuous weapon that validated his purpose to be there yet ended up killing two people. Yeah, guns don't kill people. But this gun in the hands of a misguided man-child certainly did.
Rittenhouse arrived in Kenosha as a hero in his eyes. He will leave as a martyr, regardless of the jury's verdict. And he will inspire a cadre of wannabe militia cadets who also want to find their purpose in the world.