Schneider Statement on Violence in Kenosha

WASHINGTON – Today, Congressman Brad Schneider (IL-10) released the following statement in response to the violence in Kenosha:

"For the lives and livelihoods tragically lost this week in Kenosha, my heart breaks. Jacob Blake went out to stop a fight, and he was shot point blank in the back seven times, forever left paralyzed from the waist down. Anthony Huber took his skateboard to defend the lives of strangers and lost his own. Joseph Rosenbaum, shot and killed. Our communities are filled with rage. And rightfully so. But violence is not advancing a cause but rather takes so much – dividing and destroying in ways that only beget further destruction and pain.

"The law is not on the side of Kyle Rittenhouse. At 17, he was too young to open carry in Wisconsin. He alone decided to bring that gun into a crowd, to pull the trigger and to senselessly end their lives. We are left to ask how such violence could have been avoided in the first place.

"It is said that he who seeks vengeance must first dig two graves. America cannot respond to the violence of extremists by engaging in the type of warfare that domestic terrorists like the Boogaloos desperately crave.

"Rather, let us listen to those like Julia Jackson, the mother of Jacob Blake, who asked everyone to ‘take a moment to examine your hearts… I have been praying, even before this, for the healing of our country… Let's use our hearts, our love, and our intelligence to work together to show the rest of the world how humans are supposed to treat each other. America is great when we behave greatly.'

We must now rise to the moment to ‘behave greatly.' If we succeed in uniting together as one nation, in healing, in honoring the lives of Jacob Blake, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and countless others, we will live up to the vision of our founders and the values of our faiths, and make a better nation and more secure future for our children."