After a few days of fighting for his life, and a city of unrestful protests, vandalism and complete carnage because of his shooting, Jacob Blake, the Black man who was shot seven times in the back by police officers on Sunday, August 23rd, 2020, has survived. The 29-year-old father of six is alive, but is in fact paralyzed from the waist down.
According to reports, Jacob has eight holes in his body as a result of the shooting, and doctors are unsure whether or not he will walk again. He’s now in stable condition in the hospital, and the fiery anger that is still burning inside of the veins of the citizens of Kenosha, Wisconsin can’t be easily extinguished, either by the police or the National Guard.
Jacob Blake’s family attorney, Patrick Salvi, Jr., the original thinking that Jacob was going to his vehicle for a weapon was completely inaccurate. “In the vehicle he did not have a weapon,” the attorney said. “I can’t speak directly to what he owned, but what I can say is his three children were in the car and that was in the front of his mind. That is the most important thing to him in his life; his family and his children.”
What Really Happened in the Shooting of Jacob Blake?
There were many people present outside in the neighborhood that day when Jacob was shot seven times in the back by the police on August 23rd, 2020. The ones who saw it up close were eager to tell reporters what they witnessed that terrible day.
One of them named Dan Stone, a neighbor who says he’s lived across the street and known Jacob for about five years, said that he feels the reason that he went back to the car was to check on his kids. “Knowing Jacob that’s what he was doing,” Stone said. “His kids are his priority. He wanted to make sure his kids were safe…the kids were screaming in the back seat, like any normal little kids would be. They sense that…”
What Stone is talking about is the fact that Jacob apparently got into it physically with the policeman close to his vehicle that his children were inside of before walking around to the driver side door. In a new video from that Sunday’s shooting, you can see the cops seemingly try to contain Jacob, when all of a sudden he calmly walks around the car to the driver door.
It is unclear what is said between him and the police during the new video. But whatever it was, the police still used very unnecessary force in shooting him at all, especially because they shot him in the back, and because they had the option of alternatively using lesser force, such as tasers.
Jacob’s Family’s Reactions to His Shooting and the Protests
His father, Jacob Blake, Sr., addressed the public. “They shot my son seven times, seven times,” he said. “Like he didn’t matter. But my son matters. He’s a human being, and he matters.”
Jacob’s mother, Julia Jackson, addressed the crowd at the Blake Family News conference in Kenosha. “My son has been fighting for his life,” she said. “We really just need prayers. As I was riding through here, through the city, I noticed a lot of damage. It doesn’t reflect my son, or my family.”
“I am numb,” said Jacob’s sister, Letetra Widman, who’s also a Black History Minor in college. “I have been watching the police murder people who look like me for years… I’m not sad. I don’t want your pity. I want change!”
