The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century

This is how the mainstream portrayed Martin Luther King during his day:

…and this editorial cartoon remains apt, even though more than five decades have passed:

Recommended reading

• Smithsonian Magazine: Even Though He Is Revered Today, MLK Was Widely Disliked by the American Public When He Was Killed
  “According to an early 1968 Harris Poll, the man whose half-century of martyrdom we celebrate this week [2018] died with a public disapproval rating of nearly 75 percent, a figure shocking in its own day and still striking even in today’s highly polarized political climate.”
• TIME: Don’t Forget That Martin Luther King Jr. Was Once Denounced as an Extremist
  “The civil rights movement was deeply unpopular at the time. Most Americans thought it was going too far and movement activists were being too extreme. Some thought its goals were wrong; others that activists were going about it the wrong way—and most white Americans were happy with the status quo as it was. And so they criticized, monitored, demonized and at times criminalized those who challenged the way things were, making dissent very costly. Most modern tributes and understandings of the movement paper over the decades when activists like Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks and scores of their comrades were criticized by fellow citizens and targeted as ‘un-American,’ not just by Southern politicians but by the federal government.”

What happened

VICE News: A 17-Year-Old Aspiring Cop Has Been Charged With Murder In Kenosha

A 17-year-old aspiring cop has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder for his alleged role in a shooting during a protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Tuesday night that left two dead and one injured.

The suspect was identified as Kyle Rittenhouse, of Lake County, Illinois. Prosecutors in Lake County filed the charges at noon Wednesday, and labelled him a fugitive who “fled the state of Wisconsin with intent to avoid prosecution for that offense.”

The police were practically aiding and abetting him:

Police interacted with the alleged gunman at various locations in Kenosha throughout the night. In one video, Rittenhouse is seen chatting with police who gave him a bottle of water and thanked him for being there.

Here’s the video, which shows Rittenhouse walking with the police, and the police handing out water to armed vigilantes:

There’s more in this story from The Journal Times: Police in Kenosha shared water, said they ‘appreciate’ armed group before two killed.

Not long before Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old from Illinois who was with a self-described “local militia” throughout Tuesday night’s deadly protests, allegedly killed two people and injured a third with gunfire, video shows law enforcement giving Rittenhouse water and telling his group “We appreciate you guys, we really do.”

Later in that article:

Another video shows a person with the group saying that, earlier in the night, police had told them “We’re going to push them by you so you can deal with them.”

Here’s the video:

Here, a militia member says cops told them they would “push” the protestors towards them because they knew they could handle them. pic.twitter.com/S6lzmJfOJe

— Rebecca Kavanagh (@DrRJKavanagh) August 26, 2020

Here’s another video with Rittenhouse prior to his shooting and killing two people, identifying himself as “local militia” despite having come from not just out of town, but out of state:

UPDATE: Video of Kyle Rittenhouse identifying himself before multiple shootings. Video recorder says they are with the “local militia”. Not sure who the “local militia” is but they are working with Kenosha PD pic.twitter.com/44Dqwy2YDo

— CRYPTOPUNK (@CRYPTOPUNKK) August 26, 2020

Here’s a video of Rittenhouse in an interview with The Daily Caller’s Richie McGinnis, prior to the shooting:

I interviewed the alleged shooter before the violence started.

Full video coming soon: pic.twitter.com/G3dVOJozN7

— Richie🎥McG🍿 (@RichieMcGinniss) August 26, 2020

If you thought I was engaging in hyperbole when I wrote earlier that the police were “aiding and abetting” Rittenhouse, you need to see the following:

From Slate:

“Persons who were out after the curfew became engaged in some type of disturbance, and persons were shot. Everybody involved was out after the curfew. I’m not going to make a great deal of that, but the point is the curfew is in place to protect. Had persons not been out involved in violation of that, perhaps the situation that unfolded would not have happened.”

You need to remember that the protests are taking place because an office under his charge shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back as his children watched.

The victims

The following is taken from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article titled What we know about the victims of the Kenosha protest shooting that killed two men and injured another:

Anthony Huber, 26 of Silver Lake

This is #AnthonyHuber, one of the victims from last night’s shootings. His loved one tells us he was a super talented skater and shared this video with us. They’re honoring his memory by asking everyone to please come to Basik skate park to pay respects. #SkateForHuber #Kenosha pic.twitter.com/a5WGWGQJhL

— Pari Cruz (@paricruz) August 26, 2020

Friends described Huber as a happy and laid-back guy who loved to skateboard.

“He was always a really sweet person. Always had a smile on his face,” said Max Seebeck, who grew up skateboarding with Huber in Kenosha.

Tim Kramer, 26, said he had known Huber since they were students at Lincoln Middle School in Kenosha.

“He was always really friendly. He got along with everybody. He was a class-clown-type of guy. He loved skateboarding. It’s been a big part of his life.”

Kramer said he had not seen Huber in recent years but remembered him as having a gentle nature.

One Facebook account said Huber was running at Kyle Rittenhouse, the teen accused in the killings, with his skateboard when he was shot.

“I heard he was trying to save somebody from being shot,” said Seebeck.

Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, of Kenosha

According to social media posts from friends and family, Rosenbaum is a Texas native. He moved to Kenosha within the last year.

Rosenbaum was shot in the head, a friend said.

He leaves behind a fiancée and a young daughter.

Gaige Grosskreutz, 26, of West Allis

Grosskreutz was shot in the arm and is expected to survive.

Grosskreutz was in Kenosha on Tuesday with the Milwaukee-based social justice group the People’s Revolution Movement, spokeswoman Bethany Crevensten said.

She said Grosskreutz was recuperating in a local hospital and was not available to speak.

She said the entire group of about 25 protesters was attacked Tuesday. She said their tires were slashed and Kenosha officials towed them, so owners were left stranded in the city.

Grosskreutz had volunteered as a medic at Black Lives Matter protests across Milwaukee this summer, according to WTMJ-TV.

The shooter: He seems nice

And OF COURSE he was front row at a Trump rally…

A spokesperson was quick to make the standard statement: “This individual had nothing to do with our campaign.”

In Rittenhouse’s favor is the fact that he’s a big Trump fan — big enough that he might get a pardon.

The terrible people rushing to his defense

It didn’t take long for the host of the Frozen Dinner Heir White Power Hour, sensing a kindred spirit, to side with the little turd:

• CBS News: Tucker Carlson draws backlash after saying 17-year-old Kenosha shooting suspect “maintain[ed] order when no one else would”
• CNN: Fox News host Tucker Carlson stuns with comment on Kenosha shootings
• Vanity Fair: Tucker Carlson Defends Kenosha Shooter For Just Trying To “Maintain Order”

(By the way, it’s true: Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson’s stepmother is Patricia Caroline Swanson, who is an heiress to Swanson Enterprises, as in the company that makes “Hungry Man” frozen dinners.)

In an attempt to be worse than Tucker, if such a thing is possible, Ann Coulter tweeted that she wanted Rittenhouse as her president.

More links

• Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 17-year-old suspect in Kenosha shootings was too young to open carry in Wisconsin, might still raise self-defense
• WTMJ 4 News Milwaukee: Suspected Kenosha shooter may have been illegally carrying gun
• GunsToCarry.com: Wisconsin gun laws in a simple chart:

• New York Times: Tracking the Suspect in the Fatal Kenosha Shootings
• Chicago Tribune: What we know so far about Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old accused of murder after fatal Kenosha protest shootings
• The Marshall Project’s collection of links on Kyle Rittenhouse