Why Did the Jury Find Rittenhouse “Not Guilty”?

            The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday is the ancient right to self-defense. Kyle Rittenhouse made some bad decisions fifteen months ago when joined friends to defend property in Kenosha, Wisconsin, from a raging mob. He got caught in the mob and could have lost his life except he was carrying an AR-15 rifle and defended himself. He was arrested and given six charges. His trial lasted three weeks, ending this week. One of the charges was eliminated by the judge, and the jury cleared Rittenhouse of the other five charges.

            Leftists at all levels from President Joe Biden to the left-wing media to the mobs in various cities were all upset when the jury cleared Rittenhouse. They claimed that it was “white supremacy” and “racist.” They said that Rittenhouse was cleared solely because he was white. According to the leftists, any person of color in the same circumstances would be found guilty. They just cannot accept that Rittenhouse did nothing wrong when he acted in self-defense. The problem for the leftists is that other news came out as reported by Isa Cox. 

Andrew Coffee IV, a black man, was acquitted of murder by way of self-defense, as reported by WPBF-TV. On the same day, Kyle Rittenhouse was cleared of murder charges by reason of self-defense.

I mention that Coffee was black only because many have been asking what might have happened in the Rittenhouse trial if the defendant was black. The question is usually asked by those who maintain that the U.S. justice system is systematically racist and therefore unjust.

“If Black Kyle Rittenhouse had shown up at an anti-vax rally with a weapon and the crowd chased him down and he shot two people dead, what would have happened? One, he probably would have been shot dead by police or bystanders, and two, he likely would have been portrayed as a thug and convicted in front of an all-white jury,” journalist David Greenwald claimed.

In another reaction, Democratic Rep. Cori Bush goes so far as to claim the judge, jury and defendant are white supremacists.

            Greenwald and Bush were far from being the only people complaining that the justice system is unfair. However, the leftists are quiet about the Coffee case. So, who are the racists?

Coffee’s defense was similar to that of Rittenhouse except Coffee was asleep when deputies set off a flash-bang. Coffee thought it was gunfire and fired his gun to protect his girlfriend and himself. The girlfriend was killed in the return fire.

The jury, after deliberating over the evidence, including Coffee’s testimony, found the defendant not guilty on the murder charges. They did find him guilty of a felon in possession of a firearm for which Coffee faces up to 30 years in prison.

If Rittenhouse had been a felon carrying an illegal weapon, would he have been convicted of the charge? The question is moot. Rittenhouse was not carrying a firearm illegally, and he did not transport it across state lines, despite myths spread by a number of media outlets.

The equal outcomes in Coffee and Rittenhouse trials were not based on race. They were not based on propaganda. They were based on reason.

            The leftist politicians and media pushed a false message for the past fifteen months. However, the jury looked at the evidence and used their wisdom to determine that both men acted in self-defense of their own lives.