海角大神

Andre Ross听is leaning against the hood of his white Pontiac, drinking McDonald鈥檚 coffee in front of what used to be Uptown Restaurant. He鈥檚 staring at the boarded up and burned out strip of businesses along 22^nd听Avenue, which served mainly Black patrons.

鈥淚 used to get my phone there. ... And then those tacos over there I used to get,鈥� he says, gesturing up and down the now-quiet street. 鈥淎nd that lady over there at the end, she used to sell mattresses and sometimes people would be short with the money, and she鈥檇 just let them have it.鈥�

Mr. Ross lives a couple of miles away by the police station, where听all the new fencing around a National Guard outpost 鈥� visible from his backyard 鈥� makes him feel as if he鈥檚 living in Afghanistan. Some 1,000 troops have been sent in over the past week to curtail the violence that ensued after a police officer shot Jacob Blake in the back on Aug. 23.

鈥淚 had to come down here and eat my breakfast and see it all,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 see this happen on TV in different cities. But my little city of 100,000 people?鈥�

鈥淚 understand that Black Lives Matter, I understand all of that. But what I don鈥檛 understand is this,鈥澨齭ays Mr. Ross, looking at the听charred hulks of brick, twisted rods, and melted glass left in the wake of the violence. 鈥淚f you don鈥檛 know a way to be heard, you need to find a way. Because this is not the way.鈥澨�

Mr. Blake鈥檚 shooting, the three nights of burning and looting that followed, and a white teenager鈥檚 fatal shooting of two aggressive protesters have thrust this Midwestern city into the national spotlight.听President Donald Trump surveyed the damage and met with law enforcement officials on a visit today, during which supporters and protesters engaged in shouting matches along the presidential motorcade鈥檚 route.听As pundits and officials across the political spectrum turn Kenosha into a rallying cry for racial justice or law and order 鈥撎齩r both 鈥� residents offer a more nuanced view.

Many tearfully describe a city striving to come together in the wake of devastation. Some characterize this moment as a wake-up call for those who have failed to see or address persistent racial discrimination 鈥� and as an opportunity for healing. While a broad cross section of residents see their city as a microcosm of the current tumult across America, many are hopeful that Kenosha will ultimately be remembered not for the violence that occurred here but as a model of resilience and reconciliation.

鈥淚 would really like the country to know us for this tightknit community you see,鈥� says Elisa Rocha, finishing up a mural across the street from the burned remains of the Danish Brotherhood hall, where her extended family used to gather for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and听quincea帽eras. Along the blocked-off street, the air is thick with barbecue smoke as volunteers flip hamburgers and pass out corn on the cob, while others collect cash donations in makeshift boxes.

鈥淲e will get through this and we will come out stronger,鈥� says Ms. Rocha. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e destroyed the buildings and the homes, but they鈥檙e not going to destroy the spirit that this city has.鈥�

A legacy of racial divisions听

An older white couple eating hot dogs piled high with condiments watch as others wait in line for food and some dance to the music coming over the loudspeakers. They say they want to think of their city as coming together. But they point out that the crowd here is made up of mostly white Kenosha residents, while听around the corner at the Family Dollar there鈥檚 a similar gathering that鈥檚 all Black families.

鈥淪o have we really come together?鈥� asks the wife, Holly, who declined to give her last name.

Even as a small army of residents paint colorful messages of unity, love, and healing on the plywood that covers shop fronts across the city, others express discouragement about the racial divisions that persist here 鈥撎齛 legacy of Wisconsin鈥檚 history.

Although the state听never legalized slavery听and was an important stop on the Underground Railroad for slaves seeking freedom听in Canada, Wisconsin chose to omit Black suffrage in its听1848 state constitution.听A century later, the state鈥檚 Black population increased almost 600% from 1940 to 1960 due to a surge in industrial employment, including in Kenosha, where Chrysler and American Motors were a big draw. But Milwaukee 鈥撎齦ess than an hour鈥檚 drive to the north 鈥� remained one of听the most segregated cities in the country.

A recent Brookings report found that those disparities have persisted: In 2019, Milwaukee was rated the听most racially segregated metro area in the United States.听While some neighborhoods in Kenosha are integrated, segregation still persists in areas where mortgage lenders used redlining to restrict where Black homebuyers could live, says Lawrence Kirby, pastor of Acts Church.

鈥淥ur city is still incredibly divided in a lot of ways,鈥� says Pastor Kirby, likening residents to relatives that only get together for funerals. 鈥淚n the protests and outrage, you see people come together, but we鈥檝e got to get to the point where we鈥檙e doing life together in a regular way more and more.鈥�

A few blocks away from the Danish Brotherhood ruins, Ionia Ireland听and her 10-year-old daughter Aya are standing on upside-down buckets, painting the plywood on the boarded-up business below their apartment.听Ms. Ireland, a retired Marine, expresses grim bemusement that her Uptown neighborhood lately has seen a steady stream of white people driving by, holding cellphones out the window as they film the destruction.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of people who are coming here and spray-painting a couple of things, passing out a couple of chips, taking a few pictures to be on Facebook and Instagram like they鈥檙e this hero 鈥� and then they leave,鈥� she says. 鈥淚鈥檓 not saying all are like that, some of them genuinely do care.鈥�

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 safer from where we used to live in Milwaukee,鈥� her daughter Aya adds. 鈥淏ut my candy shop almost burned down!鈥� Her mom notes that Uptown was already on the verge of being a food desert, and ticks off the last few places they had left to shop for food, all of which have been destroyed. Aya chimes in: 鈥淎nd Family Dollar! Just went poof!鈥�

In Family Dollar鈥檚 parking lot, dozens of people are rifling through donated T-shirts, diapers, canned goods, and bottled water.听Milwaukee-based rapper WebsterX, who co-organized the relief effort, expresses frustration that outlets like Fox News focused on the fires but aren鈥檛 here to report on the recovery.

鈥淲hat I want people to pay attention to in Kenosha is the positivity that鈥檚 also happening,鈥� he says, with music reverberating in the background. But he also says that there has been 鈥渞acist stuff happening here for forever, and in these communities and cities it鈥檚 just extremely unbalanced 鈥� economically, socially.鈥�

鈥淚 want people to come to Kenosha and understand why Kenosha,鈥� he says. 鈥淧eople are in unrest, they are angry,听because Black people are being killed and it鈥檚 as simple as that.鈥�

Piecing together what happened听

Kenosha police officers have come under fire after a video went viral showing Officer Rusten Sheskey shooting Jacob Blake seven times in the back as he tried to enter an SUV where his three sons were sitting in the backseat. According听to听a statement from the Kenosha Professional Police Association, officers were responding to a complaint that Mr. Blake, who had an open warrant for felony sexual assault (third degree), was attempting to steal the caller鈥檚 keys and car. The caller referred to Mr. Blake as her boyfriend, and his attorney said the pending charges for sexual assault and domestic abuse involved the same address where his client was shot, according to the local CBS affiliate.

The police union statement asserts that the officers gave Mr. Blake, whom they say was carrying a knife, multiple opportunities to comply with verbal and physical cues 鈥� including a taser 鈥� before they fired their first shot. Another bystander video appears to show Mr. Blake听scuffling on the ground听with officers before any shots were fired. Dispatch audio reveals that less than three minutes elapsed from when the first officer arrived to when Mr. Blake was shot. Mr. Blake鈥檚 attorney said听in a statement听his client 鈥渄id nothing to provoke police鈥� and that 鈥渨itnesses confirm that he was not in possession of a knife.鈥�

Mr. Blake, whose family has said he is paralyzed from the waist down, was initially shackled to his hospital bed until his warrant was vacated several days later. The Wisconsin Department of Justice is听investigating the shooting听and is expected to present its findings in a month. Within hours of the shooting, protests began. A car dealership was torched that night, along with a state parole and corrections building, with widespread arson continuing on Monday and Tuesday nights. On Tuesday, Aug. 25, 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse of Illinois fatally shot two protesters and injured a third, Gaige Paul Grosskreutz, who was holding a handgun.

One of the protesters who was killed, Joseph Rosenbaum, was a registered sex offender who had been sentenced by Arizona in 2002 for sexual conduct with a minor and had racked up a long list of violations during his imprisonment from 2003 to 2013, including assaulting staff. The other, Anthony Huber, had been in and out of Wisconsin prisons over the past four years, including for听repeated domestic abuse听and a 2012听felony charge of strangulation and suffocation, to which he pleaded guilty. Witnesses say Mr. Huber beat Mr. Rittenhouse with his skateboard prior to being shot, and at least one bystander said Mr. Rosenbaum tried to grab Mr. Rittenhouse鈥檚 gun before the teenager shot him.

Critics fault police and National Guard troops for failing to arrest Mr. Rittenhouse, whom they passed with his hands raised after the shooting. The teenager, whose Facebook posts supported Blue Lives Matter and who said in a video early Tuesday night that he had come to protect businesses and help administer first aid to those who needed it, had been charged with听speeding听and driving听without a valid license听the previous week. He turned himself in the morning following the fatal shooting after spending the night at home. The State of Wisconsin has charged him with听five felonies, including first-degree intentional homicide.

On Saturday, hundreds of protesters marched down a main boulevard to Civic Center Park, chanting 鈥淣o justice, no peace,鈥� and carrying signs that read 鈥淲e bleed the same blood,鈥� 鈥淕uns are for Cowards,鈥� and 鈥淛acob Blake is a Human.鈥� Legal observers in fluorescent vests patrolled on bikes while National Guard troops watched from behind fences near the courthouse.

Veyah Witt, a young Black woman in the crowd who was born and raised in Kenosha, says she鈥檚 not surprised by the events of the past week.

鈥淚 won鈥檛 say I鈥檓 happy that this is happening. But I am happy that people here in this town are finally seeing the things that we always see,鈥� says Ms. Witt, a first-year college student in Milwaukee. 鈥淯ntil now, it鈥檚 always just been pushed under the rug.鈥�

Jacob Blake Sr. is among the speakers who took the stage as Ms. Witt and the rest of the crowd look on. 鈥淭here is one justice system for the white boy who walked down the street shooting, and there is another one for mine,鈥� says Mr. Blake. But he adds that destruction is not the appropriate response. 鈥淕ood people of this city understand. If we tear it up, we have nothing.鈥�

A barber鈥檚 nighttime vigil

Mike Johnson, a barber in the Uptown neighborhood that saw some of the greatest devastation, says that if he hadn鈥檛 been standing guard outside his business with friends and relatives during the nights of rioting, his place would have been burned down too.听听

鈥淚 said, 鈥楤ack off, these are Black-owned businesses,鈥� and they took off,鈥� he recounts, admitting that he and others flashed guns at the rioters. 鈥淏ut yeah, they definitely tried.鈥�

He thinks the news media is creating an overly simplistic narrative to explain the events in Kenosha. 鈥淭he media is pushing it into a Black and white thing, but it鈥檚 not. It鈥檚 a right and wrong thing.鈥�

For example, he says he鈥檚 seen reports about armed white residents protecting their neighborhoods, 鈥渂ut Black people do that too! There鈥檚 nothing wrong with that. They gotta do what they gotta do. They鈥檝e got kids.鈥�

As Mr. Johnson works on a young man鈥檚 fade with gold clippers, 鈥淏ig Mike,鈥� as he鈥檚 known, describes his hopes that Uptown will come back better.

鈥淢ost people look at it and say, 鈥極h this is destruction, this is disaster,鈥� but we look at it like opportunity,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e need to get together as a community and start to rebuild.鈥�

At one of the many spontaneous mural painting sites around the city this weekend, Brenda Sorenson puts the finishing touches on a Scandinavian-inspired floral design, with handprints for flowers. She and her friend Kimberly Loepp offered to paint the boarded-up storefront of Paul Rizzo鈥檚 Scandinavian Designs furniture store, which has been here since 1974. They hope such efforts will not only help business owners like Mr. Rizzo 鈥� whom they had never met until this weekend 鈥� feel supported, but also show America a different side of Kenosha than the nighttime images that are circulating on TV.

鈥淚 want them to see the community coming together,鈥� says Ms. Sorenson. 鈥淗opefully people who didn鈥檛 know each other before can get to know each other. Who knows, maybe that could bring down some barriers.鈥�

鈥淚 wish every city could be like this鈥�

Before Jacob Blake鈥檚 name echoed across America and Kenosha was set ablaze, Pastor Kirby of Acts Church and a couple of white church leaders had set a date to relaunch together as an intentionally multiethnic church, called One Voice. It happened to fall exactly one week after Mr. Blake鈥檚 shooting, when so many in the city were feeling weighed down by pain, anger, fear, and division.

After their first service in a new building, Mr. Kirby, together with Matt Myers and David Johnson, describe this moment as an opportunity to help their city bridge those deeper divides.

鈥淢y worry is that we鈥檙e going to be so focused on rebuilding burnt buildings that we鈥檙e going to miss the divide that needs to be healed,鈥� says Mr. Johnson, expressing appreciation for the murals around town but also emphasizing the need to make good on all those expressions of peace and love.听

John Lalgee of One Church Ministries, an umbrella organization that will include the new church, suggests a divine听purpose at work amid seemingly dark times, including in the听coming together of more than a dozen church leaders and about 500 participants at an outdoor prayer meeting last Thursday.

鈥淲e will not be famous in the years to come for a tragic incident,鈥� the biracial leader told worshippers at one of his congregations, Living Light 海角大神 Church in Kenosha, on Sunday morning. 鈥淲e will be famous in the years to come for the outpouring of the spirit of God and the unique coming together of the people of God.鈥�

Already, Kenosha residents鈥� efforts have attracted attention and praise from outsiders. Three protesters from Baltimore, who drove virtually nonstop to Kenosha, said it was extraordinary to them how quickly the city was coming together.

鈥淚t breaks my heart for my city, because we didn鈥檛 do that,鈥� says Rachel Gorzo, referring to the aftermath of the 2015 death of Freddie Gray in police custody. 鈥淏ut I鈥檓 hoping other cities can learn from Kenosha.鈥�

鈥淚 wish every city could be like this,鈥� agrees her boyfriend, Darnell Williams, an African American documenting the mural painting and other scenes on his cellphone.听

鈥淭his positive energy 鈥撎齱e want to bring it to Baltimore,鈥� says Liri Fusha, their intrepid driver, who knows firsthand the impact of defunding the police and government, which she experienced in her native Albania. She hopes her adopted country won鈥檛 go down that route, but will take more seriously complaints of official corruption and misconduct.

鈥淭his country is the best country on Earth. I am so lucky to be in the U.S.,鈥� says Ms. Fusha, who still bears the scars of being thrown down on shattered glass during the lawlessness that swept Albania in the 1990s. 鈥淏ut I鈥檓 hoping the U.S. is going to come together.鈥�

Back in Uptown, leaning against his car with rap music blaring, Mr. Ross says empathy is key to addressing racial oppression in the city he loves.

鈥淢artin Luther King marched so that I could be here talking to you right now in the street. And yeah, sure, we can drink from the same water fountain now, but there鈥檚 still this underlying stuff,鈥� says Mr. Ross, who听was born in jail to a father who had killed someone and a mother who was implicated in the crime, and who fell into bad ways himself until his own son鈥檚 death caused him to change course.

鈥淚 was raised up around oppression,鈥� says Mr. Ross. 鈥淏ut I go to church. You can鈥檛 deal with violence with violence. That鈥檚 what you call a war. Ain鈥檛 nobody going to win.鈥澨�