Former President Obama issued a call for “sustained protest” and “strategic, committed organizing” for racial justice in the United States after the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin sparked the latest round of protests, as well as widespread looting, destruction and carnage.
“As people exercise their right to protest all across the country––let the undeniable paths of our progress be a guide going forward: peaceful, sustained protest; strategic, committed organizing; and purposeful, overwhelming participation at the ballot box,” Obama tweeted.
The Hill report: Kenosha has become a new epicenter of unrest after Blake, a Black man, was shot seven times in the back in front of his children on Sunday. Blake remains hospitalized, and his family has said he is at least temporarily paralyzed.
The Department of Justice has launched a civil rights investigation, but the officers involved have not been arrested or charged.
RELATED: Black Lives Matter Rioter Fatally Shot By Kyle Rittenhouse Was a Convicted Child Molester
The situation has grown more tense after a young man fatally shot two people amid the Kenosha protests this week. The suspect appears to be a supporter of President Trump and the “Blue Lives Matter” movement, and there is video of him running through the streets with a long gun confronting and shooting protesters.
Trump has said he’s sending federal officers into the city, accusing elected Democratic officials of ignoring crimes protesters are committing in the streets. Images of flaming buildings and stories of businesses being burned to the ground have emerged.
The president did not mention Blake in his GOP convention speech on Thursday night, but he accused Democrats of standing with “with anarchists, agitators, rioters, looters and flag-burners” in Kenosha and other cities.