Sunday Marks One Week Since Jacob Blake Was Shot By Kenosha Police; Wisconsin Gov. Evers Urges President Trump To Reconsider Visit
KENOSHA, Wis. (CBS Chicago/CBS News) -- It was a week ago Sunday that Jacob Blake was shot by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
What followed, of course, was a tumultuous and deadly week of protests and unrest.
President Donald Trump plans to visit Kenosha on Tuesday. But Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers urged President Trump to reconsider that plan.
With the week of unrest the city has seen since the Jacob Blake shooting, Gov. Evers wrote a letter to the president expressing concerns that his presence would cause more division.
"I, along with other community leaders who have reached out, are concerned about what your presence will mean for Kenosha and our state," Evers wrote in the letter, as quoted by CBS 58 in Milwaukee. "I am concerned your presence will only hinder our healing. I am concerned your presence will only delay our work to overcome division and move forward together."
JUST IN: @GovEvers sends letter to @realDonaldTrump asking the president to reconsider his planned visit to Kenosha on Tuesday.
— Victor Jacobo (@victorjacobo_) August 30, 2020
The letter here ⬇️: pic.twitter.com/AhqG5bRFXt
An attorney for Jacob Blake's family told "Face the Nation" on Sunday that the family had not been contacted about meeting President Trump.
"The Blake family is very respectful of all our elected officials and as his mother says, she prays for all of our elected officials," said attorney Benjamin Crump.
Wisconsin's lieutenant governor, Mandela Barnes, told CNN that President Trump shouldn't visit.
"They centered an entire convention around creating more animosity and creating more division around what's going on in Kenosha," said Barnes, a Democrat. "So I don't know how, given any of the previous statements that the president made, that he intends to come here to be helpful, and we absolutely don't need that right now."
Barnes tweeted that if President Trump isn't "coming to recognize the celebration of community that's going on right now, then keep it."
If he's not coming to recognize the celebration of community that's going on right now, then keep it. There is too much good starting to happen in Kenosha. The city was on fire and we need healing, not a barrel of gasoline rolling in. https://t.co/T7BugirW9W
— Mandela Barnes (@TheOtherMandela) August 30, 2020
"There is too much good starting to happen in Kenosha. The city was on fire and we need healing, not a barrel of gasoline rolling in," Barnes added.
In Kenosha on Sunday, dozens of people attended a rally supporting police.
Some of the participants wore T-shirts reading "back the blue," while others waved American flags. the rally was mostly peaceful, although a few heated debates broke out when activists against police brutality showed up.
Officer Rusten Sheskey, a veteran of the Kenosha police force, shot Blake in the back seven times late on the afternoon of Sunday, Aug. 23 - leaving him paralyzed.
Meantime, an outdoor service in Blake's honor was held at Ebenezer AME Church, at 1109 Emerson St. in Evanston. Blake's grandfather, also named Jacob Blake, was pastor at the church and was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement in the 1970s.
The attendees at the Evanston rally Sunday said they want to heal the deep wounds and racial injustices that plague the country.
Pastors and congregants from several other churches also lent their voices to the cause.
"It's my prayer, it's my hope, that the Grace of God will fuel us beyond this moment so that this does not become conversation, but it really becomes a movement and not a moment," said Pastor Martha Holmes of Bethany Baptist Church of Christ.
The leaders said they are working to dismantle the systems that create unequal outcomes in wealth and prosperity not only in Evanston, but across the nation.
Also Sunday, Kenosha police announced that since Monday, Aug. 24, more than 20 firearms have been seized followed by active investigations; arrests have included people from 44 different municipalities; three vehicles have been towed that are associated with active criminal investigations; 69 people have been arrested for curfew violations; 34 people have been arrested for curfew and additional charges ranging from concealing weapons burglary, and drug possession; and a total of 175 people have been arrested as of 12:30 p.m. Sunday. Of everyone processed in the past week, 102 have been from outside Kenosha, police said.
Kenosha police said they were also conducting estimates for damage to businesses during civil unrest that involved looting and arson.
A 7 p.m. curfew remains in effect.