Politics and Justice at the Kyle Rittenhouse Trial

The Political Scene | The New Yorker

The New Yorker

Politics, Washington, News, Obama, Wnyc, President, Lizza, Barack, Wickenden

4.3 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 11 November 2021

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In August, 2020, during a period of civil unrest after the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, the seventeen-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse shot three people, killing two and maiming the third. Rittenhouse’s actions ignited a political firestorm. To some, he was a right-wing vigilante radicalized by conservative rhetoric about the threat posed by progressive groups such as Black Lives Matter. To others, he had exercised his constitutional right to defend himself from violent attackers. Rittenhouse became an obsession for pundits and politicians on the left and the right. This month, a jury in Kenosha has been hearing testimony in Rittenhouse’s trial, and—barring a mistrial—will rule on his culpability in one of the most publicized and politicized killings in recent memory. Paige Williams joins Dorothy Wickenden to discuss the case, and the intersection of politics and justice.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hi there, I'm Lale Arikoglu, and this podcast is brought to you by Wilderness, a conservation-driven
0:06.4	hospitality company that offers intimate world life encounters in extraordinary remote landscapes.
0:12.5	Last year, I embarked on two separate solo adventures with Wilderness, one to Botswana and the other
0:18.2	to Namibia, where the expert guides delivered a truly once-in-a-lifetime
0:23.6	experience. I promise you, whatever you watch and see before you go won't prepare you for the thrill
0:29.4	of a wilderness adventure. eBay, it's a place to fall in love with new pre-loved vintage and rare
0:36.6	fashion over and over again.
0:39.0	Your favorite designers, expertly authenticated.
0:42.5	Yeah, eBay. Things people love.
0:48.1	This is the political scene, a weekly conversation with New Yorker writers and guests about politics.
0:54.4	It's Thursday, November 11th.
0:56.6	I'm Dorothy Wickenden, executive editor of The New Yorker.
1:00.1	In August 2020, after the police shooting of Jacob Blake,
1:05.3	civil unrest broke out in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
1:09.0	17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse from nearby Antioch, Illinois, went to
1:14.2	Kenosha to, he said, protect local businesses. Shortly before midnight on August 25th, in a
1:22.6	confrontation with protesters, Rittenhouse shot and killed two people, 36-year-old Joseph Rosenbaum and 26-year-old
1:31.3	Anthony Huber, and wounded a third. Rittenhouse's actions ignited a political firestorm.
1:39.3	Some blamed the shootings on Trump-backed fear-mongering about the threat posed by progressive groups like Black Lives Matter.
1:47.0	Others saw Rittenhouse as a young man who exercised his constitutional rights to defend himself.
1:54.0	In the years since, he has become an obsessive topic of conversation for pundits on the left and the right.
2:01.3	Rittenhouse's currently standing trial in Kenosha.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The New Yorker, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The New Yorker and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.