“I am not racist”: after his acquittal, the American Kyle Rittenhouse defends himself

Published on : 11/23/2021 – 10:43

Young American Kyle Rittenhouse, acquitted after shooting two men during an anti-racist protest in 2020, claimed he was not racist and supported the Black Lives Matter movement, in an interview to be broadcast on Monday .

“I am not a racist, I support the Black Lives Matter movement, I support peaceful protests,” he said on Fox News, referring to the protests that have multiplied in the United States after the death of George Floyd, an Afro-American American, during his arrest by a white police officer in Minneapolis at the end of May 2020.

Kyle Rittenhouse, 18, was on trial for killing two men aged 26 and 36 and injuring a third with a semi-automatic rifle on August 23, 2020 in Kenosha, in the Great Lakes region.

He had come to the Wisconsin town with a group of armed citizens to, he said, “protect” businesses from looting during protests of anger against racism after Jacob Blake, an African-American man, was seriously injured by a policeman from Kenosha.

“This trial has nothing to do with racism”

Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted Friday after pleading in self-defense, claiming to have fired after being chased and attacked by these three men, all white like him.

The verdict shocked part of America, believing that it offered a blank check to supporters of white supremacy and armed groups.

“This trial has nothing to do with racism, it was about the right to self-defense,” said the young man in the extract of this interview which is to be broadcast in the evening.

Before arriving in Kenosha, Kyle Rittenhouse had posted several messages on social networks in support of law enforcement.

With AFP