Protest held in downtown Louisville after Rittenhouse acquitted

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Several community groups led a protest in downtown Louisville on Saturday denouncing the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse.

On Friday, a jury acquitted the 18-year-old on all charges after he testified saying he acted in self-defense in the deadly Kenosha shootings last year.

Rittenhouse was charged with homicide, attempted homicide and reckless endangering for killing two men and wounding a third with an AR-style semi-automatic rifle in the summer of 2020 during a tumultuous night of protests over the shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake, by a white Kenosha police officer.

Louisville Showing Up for Racial Justice (LSURJ) led the protest alongside Black Lives Matter Louisville and the Kentucky Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression on the steps of the Hall of Justice at Sixth and Jefferson streets.

Sonja Wilde-de Vries, an organizer for LSURJ, said the verdict supports white violence and white supremacy.

"It's also very traumatic, we were also in protests like the ones in Kenosha, we can all imagine ourselves in those situations," Wilde-de Vries said. "We are not going to accept white supremacy being carried out and maintained in our name."

Shameka Parrish-Wright, a candidate for Louisville Mayor in the 2022 election, spoke at the protest. She is also co-chair of The Kentucky Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.

"The injustices that are happening with our legal system and how it's used to continue to bully and oppress people, we all must stand up together," Parrish-Wright said. "We cannot continue to let this happen."