Jacob Blake’s family urges Charlotte supporters to end ‘this vicious cycle of hate’

A month after the police shooting that left a Black man paralyzed in Wisconsin, members of his family gathered in uptown Charlotte on Sunday to urge an end to what one called the “cycle of hate.”

“I’m tired of this vicious cycle of hate,” LetetraWideman, the sister of Jacob Blake Jr., told an afternoon crowd at Romare Bearden Park. “I’ve been Black for 31 years and I still can’t figure out why that makes people mad.”

Wideman and her father, Jacob Blake Sr., spoke to more than 150 people at the park before marching to the Black Lives Matter mural on South Tryon Street.

The younger Blake was shot seven times in the back by police in Kenosha, Wis., on Aug. 23. The shooting, which followed deaths this summer of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville, both at the hands of police, ignited days of violent protests in the city.

Blake Sr. said Sunday his son is now in a spinal hospital in Chicago.

The senior Blake, who lives in Charlotte, wore a black T-shirt imprinted with a photo of him and his son. “I am a human being,” the shirt said. “Take a moment and examine your heart.”

“If some of us do not count, none of us counts,” he told the crowd. “I refuse to accept the fact that in 2020 I have to prove my son is a human being.”

The rally also recalled the deaths of two other African Americans who died violently in Charlotte four years ago.

Keith Lamont Scott was killed by Charlotte police who said Scott presented a threat. An investigation found officers were justified. But the shooting sparked nights of violent protests. During one of the protests, 26-year-old Justin Carr was shot and killed in uptown Charlotte. Last year a jury found Rayquan Borum guilty of second-degree murder in Carr’s death.

MIke DeVaul, a longtime YMCA executive in Charlotte, grew up with Blake Sr. in Evanston, Ill., where the father of the senior Blake was his pastor. He said at least the younger Blake is still alive.

“We should celebrate the fact that he is living,” DeVaul told a reporter, “not dead as so many others are.”

Wideman, Blake’s sister, said she feels “helpless and hopeless” by the continued violence.

“I feel defeated,” she said. “We’ve been treated like rags, something you use and throw out when you’re done. They tried to throw my brother away like he was a rag.”

DeVaul has started a fund to support Blake Sr. Donations can be made to: The Jacob Blake Sr. Fund, 2459 Wilkinson Blvd., Suite 310, Charlotte, 28208.

This story was originally published September 20, 2020 at 3:55 PM.