KENOSHA — More than one month ago a Kenosha police officer shot Jacob Blake, sparking outrage and unrest. Now with Election Day quickly approaching, his family and the community are pushing people to get involved and out to the polls to create change.
In early September, Jacob Blake released a video from his hospital bed at Froedtert providing a brief update on how he was doing. It was the first time we saw and heard from him, two weeks after a Kenosha police officer shot him in the back seven times, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.
Now Jacob continues to recover at a rehabilitation center in Illinois.
His uncle, Justin said they quietly transported him to the facility a couple of weeks ago, to get the therapy he needs.
“Little Jacob is incredible. He’s a solider,” Justin said.
Justin said Jacob’s upper body is already stronger, along with his mental state of mind.
Mentally, he’s vibrant and just wanting to get back in the community, get back to his children, and get back to some type of normality,” Justin said. “If his body ever catches up to his mind, he’s definitely going to walk again.”
In the meantime, after what happened to Jacob and the following unrest, there’s greater motivation in the community to participate in this year’s presidential election.
The Blake family’s organization, Justice for Jacob hosted voter registration drives all weekend, where they helped people like Chris Escobar register for the first time.
“Not enough people come in this community to vote. A lot of people are for whatever reason, don’t believe in voting,” Escobar said.
However, Escobar wants his city to improve and get back on its feet, which he feels is reason enough to vote.
“With everything that happened in Kenosha, it really brings out why everybody needs to get involved and make a difference over what they believe in,” Escobar said.
“You want to make change? Change is at the poll boxes right now,” Justin said.
Next week, the Blake family will be hosting a march from Kenosha to Milwaukee to encourage people to vote and fight for social justice.
