Rittenhouse tells Fox News he is “not a racist person,” BLM argues

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NEW YORK (AP) – Kyle Rittenhouse, who was acquitted on charges of killing two men and injuring another during unrest following the shooting of a black man by a white police officer, said in a new interview that he was “not a racist person” and supports the Black Lives Matter movement.

“This case has nothing to do with race. It never has anything to do with race. It had to do with the right to self-defense, ”the 18-year-old told Fox News host Tucker Carlson in an interview due to air Monday night. Rittenhouse is white, as are the men he shot.

Rittenhouse was 17 last year when he drove 20 miles from his home in Antioch, Ill. To Kenosha, Wis., Which was rocked by protests over the Aug. 23 shooting against Jacob Blake. This shooting and the response to Kenosha – protests that have become destructive – have become part of the national calculation of the use of force by police against blacks following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis last May at the hands of the police.

Rittenhouse, armed with an AR-style semi-automatic rifle, joined others who said they intended to protect private property from potential damage on August 25. During his trial, prosecutors argued that the teenager was an “aspiring soldier” who was looking for trouble. tonight. Rittenhouse countered that he shot in self-defense after being attacked and fearing for his life.

The shootings quickly made Rittenhouse a rallying cry for Second Amendment rights supporters and those angry at the sometimes violent protests seen in some American cities after Floyd’s death.

Rittenhouse was pictured in a pre-trial bar with apparent members of the far-right Proud Boys. Rittenhouse’s lawyers have said he is not a white supremacist.

” I am not racist. I support the BLM movement, I support peaceful protests, ”Rittenhouse told Carlson in excerpts from the interview released by Fox News before it aired.

Last Friday, a jury found Rittenhouse not guilty of the manslaughter, attempted homicide and reckless endangerment charges of Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and the injuries to Gaige Grosskreutz, now 28 years old.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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