REPORTAGE
A grieving family, protective lawyers and a forest of microphones: the scene is almost too familiar. "They shot my son seven times ... seven times", indignant Tuesday evening the father of Jacob Blake, who spoke with his family to the press and the country, to demand justice. In Kenosha, Wisconsin, northern United States, a white police officer shot seven times at point blank range in the back of a black man, Jacob Blake, on Sunday evening. "My son is fighting for his life", said, moved, Julia Jackson, mother of the victim, during the press conference.
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A civil complaint will be filed
Because Jacob Blake is still hospitalized. The bullets severed his spinal cord and damaged his liver and kidneys. The 29-year-old had to undergo partial bowel removal. His mother says he told her he "doesn't want to be a burden" and doesn't believe he will ever walk again. "The medical diagnosis, at the moment, is that he is paralyzed," said family lawyer Ben Crump. The lawyer, who is also that of the family of George Floyd, a young African-American killed by the police during the summer, calls for the arrest and the dismissal of the agents involved and announced that a complaint would be filed in civil.
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"If Jacob knew what was going on, the violence and the destruction, he would be very unhappy"
As after the publication of the videos of George Floyd, several American cities have become since Sunday the scene of sometimes violent rallies, thousands of people demanding that justice be done for Jacob Blake. The victim's mother called for calm. “If Jacob knew what was going on, the violence and destruction, he would be very upset,” she said, before delivering a powerful message: “I pray for my son's healing, but also for the healing of our country ".
The lawyers also announced that they would go to Washington on Friday to join a vast march against police violence organized on the anniversary of Martin Luther King's famous "I have a dream" speech.
The American press is moved
"Even after George Floyd, and everyone else, why do we have to go through this cycle again and again and again?" asks the Washington Post . Because America is "a racist nation," a Miami Herald columnist bluntly observes . According to a study, he adds, even in school a black student is much more likely to be punished than a white classmate.
For The Atlantic , the historic movement of protest after the death of Georges Floyd has so far brought "no serious change in the functioning of the American police". The Conservative magazine continues: "Every time it is said that George Floyd must not have died in vain, there is a new Jacob Blake."