The Wisconsin city of Kenosha is reportedly weighing if it should build a memorial to one of the men who was shot dead by Kyle Rittenhouse during the August 2020 riots.
Aldermen late Monday began considering a proposal to memorialize Anthony Huber with a tree and plaque in the city’s Anderson Park, according to The Daily Mail.
The news outlet reported that Huber’s girlfriend, Hannah Gitting, put forward a motion for the memorial and that she would be responsible for the upkeep of the memorial if the city moves forward.
Huber, a 26-year-old who had a prison record and reportedly hit Mr. Rittenhouse with his skateboard, was killed during the violent unrest that followed in the wake of a police-involved shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man who was wanted on a warrant for felony sexual assault.
Police said officers thought Mr. Blake had a knife and would stab them after he fled the officers and tried to reach into the driver’s side of a vehicle. Mr. Blake, who was shot in the back, is paralyzed from the shooting.
The incident fueled race-related protests in the summer of 2020. Rioters destroyed parts of Kenosha, and Mr. Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time, arrived in the city from Illinois in a bid to protect businesses.
He ended up shooting three men, two of them fatally, and was acquitted in a high-profile trial after he cited self-defense.
Mr. Rittenhouse became a kind of hero among those on the right who said the media and others unfairly cast blame on the teenager instead of focusing on rioters who destroyed shops and other sites in town.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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