A Massachusetts state university encouraged students to attend racially segregated “processing spaces” after Kyle Rittenhouse‘s acquittal on homicide charges and mistakenly implied that Jacob Blake, whose shooting by police touched off the Kenosha, Wisconsin, riots where the deaths occurred, was dead.
Fitchburg State University sent an email to students on Friday in which it falsely claimed that the rifle used by Rittenhouse was automatic and that the two men killed in the confrontation were protesting the “wrongful death” of the very-much-alive Jacob Blake. The email went on to erroneously claim that Rittenhouse had carried his firearm across state lines.
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“The Center for Diversity and Inclusiveness is creating space for our community to process the ‘not guilty’ on all accounts verdict in the Kenosha, Wisconsin case where Kyle Rittenhouse, an Illinois native, shot and killed two people protesting the wrongful death of Jacob Blake in 2020,” the original email read.
The email went on to list times for separate gatherings of “students of color” and their “white student” allies in designated spaces. Similar race-segregated spaces were listed for faculty and staff.
“This moment has and will undoubtedly impact many in our community, so please see these spaces as an opportunity to discuss your thoughts, emotions, and reflections,” the email read.
Rittenhouse was charged in the fatal shootings of Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, on the third night of violent protests on Aug. 25, 2020, sparked by a white police officer shooting Blake seven times in the back at close range. Blake, who was wanted on an arrest warrant, and who police say resisted arrest and was armed with a knife, was partially paralyzed but not killed in the conflict. An investigation cleared the officers involved of wrongdoing.
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During the riots, Rittenhouse defended himself with an AR-15, a semi-automatic rifle, not an “automatic rifle,” as the school claimed. Automatic rifles are generally not legal to own nor available for purchase to the general public. Rittenhouse also did not transport the weapon across state lines. He acquired the weapon from a friend who bought and kept it in Wisconsin for him.
“In the haste of creating these events, some factual errors were included in the original communication,” read a subsequent correction from the school. “The intention of the communication was to inform our community as quickly as possible of the optionally available space given the holiday break, These do not change the intent of the gatherings, which is to provide a space for members of the campus community to discuss their reactions and experiences.”
“We will create this space deliberately at a later time to ensure our entire community has time to process internally and is able to actively participate in the dialogue,” the email concluded.
