Kalamazoo residents protest police shooting in Wisconsin

As he leaned into his car, a police officer grabbed 29-year-old Jacob Blake by the shirt. Then seven shots rang out and Blake collapsed.

That happened Sunday afternoon in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Immediately, Kalamazoo residents cried out for justice after yet another officer-involved shooting of an unarmed Black man.

Kalamazoo residents gathered in Bronson Park Monday to protest the shooting and call for police reform.

This comes just over a week after protesters accused police of mishandling a racist rally in Kalamazoo and three months after protests over the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis led to a crackdown in Kalamazoo.

Several speakers called for changes to systemic racism especially in policing, according to an article on MLive.

King Ryan is the executive director of Uplift Kalamazoo, which hosted the rally, and one of the speakers.

“Today was another one of them days, right? We woke up, we got on our social media, we stared at our TV and we see our trauma splashed everywhere,” he said. “I can’t watch them videos no more. I don’t want to and I shouldn’t have to.”

You can read the full story here.