'I have the utmost respect for you as the leader of our country'
Julia Jackson, the mother of Jacob Blake, harshly condemned the violence happening in Kenosha, Wisconsin, over the shooting of her son during an interview Tuesday on CNN in which she also apologized to President Donald Trump.
What did Jackson say to rioters?
Riots erupted in the southern Wisconsin city late Sunday just hours after Blake was shot seven times by Kenosha police, who were responding to a domestic incident. Businesses have been burned and looted, and two people were even killed late Tuesday as the riots entered their third consecutive night.
Jackson, speaking to CNN host Don Lemon, said she is "hurt" and "disgusted" by the community's response.
"My family and I are very hurt and quite frankly disgusted. And as his mother, please don't burn up property and cause havoc and tear your own homes down in my son's name," Jackson said.
"You shouldn't do it. People shouldn't do it anyway, but to use my child or any other mother or father's child — our tragedy — to react in that manner is just not acceptable. And it's not helping Jacob. It's not helping Jacob or any other of the men or women who has suffered in these areas," she continued.
When asked by Lemon whether she has a message for politicians, Jackson used the opportunity to apologize to the president for missing his personal phone call and for comments that another family member had made about him.
"For our president, Trump: First I want to say a family member and I don't know if it was heard or not said something that was not kind. She is hurting and I do apologize for that. Our outburst does not reflect our behavior. And then also, for President Trump: I'm sorry I missed your call because had I not missed your call, maybe the comments that you made would have been different," Jackson said.
She added, "I'm not mad at you at all. I have the utmost respect for you as the leader of our country. Like I said before and I'm not saying this to him directly: We should always get the details from the right source before we start throwing bricks."
Anything else?
Blake, who survived being shot seven times, is paralyzed as a result of his injuries, a family attorney said, adding that at least one bullet tore through his spinal cord. According to a CBS News report, the bullets left holes in Blake's stomach, caused damage to his kidney and liver, and required that "nearly his entire colon and small intestine" be removed.
"The medical diagnosis right now is that he is paralyzed and because those bullets severed his spinal cord and shattered some of his vertebrae… it is going to take a miracle for Jacob Blake Jr. to ever walk again," family attorney Benjamin Crump said, CBS News reported.
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