Not too far away from the Lake County area, a major ongoing news story has been unfolding in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

On Aug. 23, Jacob Blake was shot in the back seven times by Officer Rusten Sheskey.

On Aug. 25, protests took place in Kenosha over the shooting that occurred two days earlier.

As a precautionary measure, police were placed throughout the city to protect the local businesses and people during the protests.

Kyle Rittenhouse, 17, from Antioch, Illinois, had decided to engage with the people who said they were “protecting” the local businesses.

He showed up in Kenosha wielding an AR-15 assault rifle with the intention to guard the local businesses.

Rittenhouse shot and killed two civilians and seriously injured another. The third civilian was hospitalized with a severe injury to his arm.

Rittenhouse left the scene walking past police officers while still carrying his weapon. 

Rittenhouse has since been charged with first-degree intentional homicide, and his attorneys are saying he acted in self-defense.  

Donald Trump showed up in Kenosha to thank the law enforcement for their efforts in the protests in Kenosha. Joe Biden, his Democratic opponent in the 2020 presidential election also visited Kenosha and met with Blake’s family. Wisconsin is considered a key state in the upcoming election.

Professional athletes postponed playoff games in protest of the Jacob Blake shooting, wore clothing to express their support for the protests related to this shooting and others, and they expressed their opinions on the matter through social media or through interviews. 

The protests in Kenosha have subsided, but protests over social justice continue throughout the nation, and the issue is one of several key elements in the November election.

As an alternative to the protests in Kenosha, there have been community cookouts that have been going on in place of protests over the weekends within Kenosha.

Whatever form the debate over social injustice and how to address it takes, it represents a reckoning that every community and every American must consider. With events in Kenosha happening within driving distance of the College of Lake County, students at this school find themselves thinking about this topic in close-to-home fashion.

Nanci Sarmiento, a political science major, had some thoughts on the matter. 

“Through[out] the last several months I think the injustices within the criminal justice system have been clear,” said Sarmiento. “If a 17-year-old white man can walk around freely with an AR-15 shooting those around him and no extreme measure [is] being taken right away there is a problem. These protest[s] might not be able to bring back a life, but it gives us the opportunity to pave a path towards dismantling oppression within the system that [was] built to give privilege to white [people] and not to people of color”.