Wisconsin protests: Man who filmed Jacob Blake’s shooting says he can’t sleep and is ‘traumatised’ – ‘we are scared for our lives’
The many police shootings of Black Americans have traumatised the people who documented them on video
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Your support makes all the difference.The man who filmed the police shooting of Jacob Blake, an unarmed Wisconsin man now fighting for his life in hospital, has said he is deeply disturbed by having seen the incident unfold just yards from his own house.
Speaking to CNN, Raysean White said that he did not know Mr Blake, but felt intense pain over what he witnessed during the events he filmed.
“It’s disturbing to actually look out the window where I live and see this man get shot by the police seven times,” he said. “It’s highly disturbing to me, but I’m pretty sure Jacob’s kids were more traumatised than anybody during the whole situation.”
Mr White gave his account as Mr Blake’s city of Kenosha faced another night of furious demonstrations over the shooting, with police firing tear gas at protesters who defied an 8pm curfew to protest at the city’s courthouse. Wisconsin governor Tony Evers has mobilised 125 members of the National Guard to help protect infrastructure and first responders.
In his remarks, Mr White had a message for the police.
“The police want everybody to know they’re out here to protect and serve, but you guys are constantly giving us – Black people, in particular – reasons not to let you guys protect and serve.
“We don’t want you guys around because we are scared for our lives. You come to an incident to disarm an argument, and this Black man gets shot. It wasn’t supposed to go down that.”
Many of the numerous police shootings of Black Americans that have been documented on video in recent years have come with stories of trauma among those holding the camera.
The widely seen video of George Floyd’s death at the knee of a Minneapolis police officer was shot by 17-year-old Darnella Frazier, who posted the 10-minute clip on Facebook. She has since faced harassment for filming the killing, including from people furious that she did not intervene herself.
In response, she has pointed out that had she done so, she too might have faced police violence or worse – and that “if it wasn’t for me, four cops would’ve still had their jobs, causing other problems”.
Among the other cases caught on video was the 2016 killing of Philando Castile, who was – like Mr Blake – shot in his car by a police officer in front of a child, the four-year-old daughter of his girlfriend Diamond Reynolds.
Ms Reynolds live-streamed the aftermath of the incident on Facebook. Her footage shows her calm and composed even as her boyfriend dies next to her and her child cries in the back seat – a reaction later explained by psychologists in the media as “the brain on horror”.
However, later in the video, she can be heard breaking down in a police car.
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