Filmmaker Ava Duvernay tweeted her response to the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict on Friday after the jury found Rittenhouse “not guilty” on all charges.
Duvernay tweeted, alongside a photo of Anthony Huber, who was shot and killed by Rittenhouse:
John Huber and Karen Bloom, parents of murderer #KyleRittenhouse’s victim Anthony Huber: the verdict “sends the unacceptable message that armed civilians can show up in any town, incite violence, and then use the danger they have created to justify shooting people in the street.”
Duvernay also pinned the tweet to her Twitter profile.
John Huber and Karen Bloom, parents of murderer #KyleRittenhouse’s victim Anthony Huber: the verdict “sends the unacceptable message that armed civilians can show up in any town, incite violence, and then use the danger they have created to justify shooting people in the street.” pic.twitter.com/zhfMCIsXIk
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) November 19, 2021
She also tweeted out a clip of a video with the quote, “White supremacy is a delusion that violates human dignity and cannot be tolerated by anyone who believes in dignity for all,” attributed to “LeapAction.”
“White supremacy is a delusion that violates human dignity and cannot be tolerated by anyone who believes in dignity for all.” – @LeapAction pic.twitter.com/xiU9UfgBcg
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) November 19, 2021
Leap Action’s Twitter profile describes itself as “LEAP: Law Enforcement Accountability Project. Disrupting the code of silence around the murder of Black people by police.”
It adds that it is “Powered by [Array Now,]” which is a group that states, “We produce, distribute and amplify work by Black artists, filmmakers of color and women of all kinds. 10 years brave. Founded by [Duvernay]. Change is ours to create.”
As reported by The Daily Wire:
A jury found Kyle Rittenhouse not guilty of murder Friday afternoon for fatally shooting two men and injuring a third last year during riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin, marking the end of a contentious trial that pitted the prosecution against the judge.
“The jury has represented our community in this trial and has spoken,” the lead prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger said.
Judge Bruce Schroeder said he “couldn’t have asked for a better jury” regarding their attentiveness to the court proceedings.
Rittenhouse was seen sobbing and embracing his defense attorneys after the verdict was read.
Rittenhouse, who is now 18, lives in Antioch, a northern suburb of Chicago about 15 miles from Kenosha. On August 25 of last year when he was 17, Rittenhouse decided to patrol the downtown Kenosha area alongside other armed men in order to protect a used car dealership from looting and vandalism. The city had devolved into rioting over the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a black man, by a white Kenosha police officer.
Rittenhouse took a medical kit and armed himself with a Smith & Wesson M&P15, which is an AR-15 style semi-automatic rifle that police say his friend illegally bought for him.
While guarding the used car dealership, he was chased by protesters and ended up fatally shooting two people, Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, and injuring a third, Gaige Grosskreutz. The defendant and the three men he shot are all white.
He was arrested and charged with five felony charges and one misdemeanor charge. The most serious charge was intentional homicide, Wisconsin’s top murder charge, which carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison. The others were reckless homicide, attempted homicide, two counts of reckless endangerment, and being a minor illegally in possession of a firearm.
On Monday, the judge dismissed the misdemeanor firearm charge, which was considered the easiest charge for the state to prove. Previously, Rittenhouse was also charged with violating curfew, but that charge was dismissed last week by the judge as well.
Rittenhouse pled not guilty to all charges. His attorneys argued that he acted in self-defense.