Julia Jackson, the mother of Jacob Blake, blasted rioters who have caused substantial violence and riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin, this week after her 29-year-old son was shot by police during an attempted arrest, saying that she is “disgusted” by their behavior.
“My family and I are very hurt, and quite frankly disgusted,” Jackson told CNN’s Don Lemon. “And as his mother, please don’t burn up property and cause havoc and tear your own homes down in my son’s name. You shouldn’t do it. People shouldn’t do it anyway, but to use my child or any other mother or father’s child, our tragedy, to react in that manner is just not acceptable. And it’s not helping Jacob. It’s not helping Jacob or any other of the men or women who has suffered in these areas.”
Later, when asked if she had anything that she wanted to say to any elected officials, Jackson said, “For our President Trump, first I want to say a family member — and I don’t know if it was heard or not — said something that was not kind. She is hurting, and I do apologize for that. Our outburst does not reflect our behavior. And also, for President Trump, I’m sorry I missed your call because had I not missed your call, maybe the comments that you made would have been different. And I’m not mad at you at all. I have the utmost respect for you as the leader of our country. Like I said before, and I’m not saying this to him directly, we should always get the details from the right source before we start throwing bricks.”
WATCH:
Jacob Blake’s mom on violence in Kenosha: "My family and I are very hurt. And quite frankly disgusted. And as his mother, please don’t burn up property and cause havoc and tear your own homes down in my son’s name. You shouldn’t do it. … it’s just not acceptable.” pic.twitter.com/T00Fg5MOvj
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) August 26, 2020
TRANSCRIPT:
CNN’s DON LEMON: The destruction that has been taking place in cities across it country and in Kenosha — I heard you speak about that. And my question is, you said that you don’t want that in Jacob’s name and neither would he. Tell me more about that, please.
JULIA JACKSON: Absolutely not. My family and I are very hurt, and quite frankly disgusted. And as his mother, please don’t burn up property and cause havoc and tear your own homes down in my son’s name. You shouldn’t do it. People shouldn’t do it anyway, but to use my child or any other mother or father’s child, our tragedy, to react in that manner is just not acceptable. And it’s not helping Jacob. It’s not helping Jacob or any other of the men or women who has suffered in these areas.
LEMON: Do you have anything to say, Ms. Jackson, to the politicians who are out there? Anything you want to say to the president, or the candidates, or Trump or Biden, or anything like that?
JACKSON: For our President Trump, first I want to say a family member – and I don’t know if it was heard or not – said something that was not kind. She is hurting, and I do apologize for that. Our outburst does not reflect our behavior. And also, for President Trump, I’m sorry I missed your call because had I not missed your call, maybe the comments that you made would have been different. And I’m not mad at you at all. I have the utmost respect for you as the leader of our country. Like I said before, and I’m not saying this to him directly, we should always get the details from the right source before we start throwing bricks.