Capitalist courts are built on the lie that justice is blind and neutral. Apparently no one told Judge Bruce Schroeder that. On what planet does a judge get to announce that Kyle Rittenhouse is the “victim?”
Schroeder went on to instruct the lawyers to describe the actual victims — Anthony Huber, Joseph Rosenbaum and Gaige Grosskreutz — as “rioters” and “looters” despite no evidence they were guilty of any crime. Furthermore, the judge berated prosecutors and disallowed evidence repeatedly. This emboldened the defense to demand a mistrial with prejudice, meaning Rittenhouse can’t be retried. It was denied.
This trial is a travesty, but not unusual. Judges routinely make sure that racists get away with murder. In 2012, 15-year-old unarmed Trayvon Martin was killed in Florida. Martin’s murderer was acquitted, claiming he was in fear for his life. The same argument is being used by Rittenhouse.
Real justice will never happen until the root of racism is dug out — the capitalist system. But that doesn’t mean we throw our hands up in despair. In the fight to topple the for-their-profit system, we must demand that power brokers play by the rules of impartiality and justice they claim to believe in. And educate and agitate when they do not.
