Justin Blake, the uncle of Jacob Blake, has called upon people to peacefully protest in response to the video showing a white police officer shooting his nephew several times in the back as he reached under the seat of his car.
Speaking with CNN’s Sara Sidner on Monday night, Justin Blake said that he and his family will seek justice for Jacob the right and peaceful way, denouncing acts of violence.
“This is like what all the black parents talk about. It’s that phone call you don’t want to get, and we got it,” he said. “So you have to sort of be strong for each other, let your faith lead the way, and so after talking to his mother and my brother, [we] are asking people in Kenosha and around this nation to protest, but protest nonviolently. We want justice and we’re going to get justice, we’re going to demand justice, but we’re going to do that without tearing up our own communities.”
Later in the segment, Sidner asked Justin, “What did [Jacob] say to you when you first talked to him?”
“That it was gonna be all right. And it is. But what’s all right when someone’s life was just totally changed?” responded Blake. “Thank God he is alive, so we’re just praying for a great recovery, that he may have a great quality of life, and that his father, my brother, can enjoy him.”
Justin Blake, the uncle of police shooting victim Jacob Blake, urges demonstrators to protest peacefully.
"We want justice, and we're going to get justice. We're going to demand justice. But we're going to do that without tearing up our own communities." https://t.co/XHQlhOLb4O pic.twitter.com/eVVsV9p9pk
— CNN (@CNN) August 25, 2020
When riots broke out in Minneapolis and other parts of the country, the family of George Floyd, a black man tragically killed at the hands of a white police officer, similarly denounced violence and called for peaceful protests.
“I’m outraged, too. Sometimes I get angry, I want to bust some heads, too,” Terrence Floyd, George’s brother, told ABC News. “I wanna get — just go crazy. But I’m here to just — My brother wasn’t about that. My brother was about peace. You’ll hear a lot of people say, he was a gentle giant.”
“You’ll see him coming and over and say, ‘wow he’s a big dude,’ but then when you talk to him and he’s all about positivity, motivation. I just can’t believe he’s gone,” Terrence continued. “I just had to come down here to speak to people and let people know that, just channel your anger elsewhere. Don’t tear up your town, all of this is not necessary, because if his own family and blood is not doing it, then why are you? If his own family and blood are trying to deal with it and be positive about it, and go another route to seek justice, then why are you out here tearing up your community?”
“Because when you’re finished and turn around and then you wanna to go buy something, you done tore it up,” he warned. “So now you messed up your own living arrangements. So just relax. Justice will be served.”
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