Jacob Blake is Not a Convicted Rapist

On August 23, 2020, Jacob Blake, a black resident of Kenosha, Wisconsin, was shot seven times by police officers who were responding to a domestic incident. He is a father of six, and three of his young sons (ages 3, 5, and 8, respectively) witnessed the shooting. Blake miraculously survived the shooting, but is suffering from severe internal damage and is paralyzed from the waist down.

Since the killing of George Floyd by police on May 25th, 2020, thousands of protests have occurred in cities throughout the United States. Following the shooting of Jacob Blake, a massive and chaotic protest erupted in Kenosha. Three people were shot during a protest, two fatally.

Following the shooting, social media users cited Jacob Blake’s supposed criminal convictions, especially that of being a “child rapist,” as something of a justification for his shooting. The same users frequently pair this argument with Blake’s failure to comply with police directions on the scene.