Jacob Blake's Sister Speaks Out On Shooting: 'I Don't Want Your Pity, I Want Change'

Jacob Blake’s sister about her brother being shot by police: She isn’t sad, she’s angry

In a statement to reporters yesterday afternoon, the sister of Jacob Blake said she didn’t want anyone’s pity, and she isn’t sad about her brother getting shot multiple times in the back by Kenosha police. She’s angry. And tired. And she wants to see some real, tangible, actionable change.

After her 29-year-old brother underwent surgery on Tuesday after sustaining at least seven close-range gunshot wounds, Letetra Widman told reporters she doesn’t want to hear anyone’s apologies for what her family is enduring in the aftermath of the police brutality committed against her brother. Blake’s family also confirmed her brother is currently paralyzed from the waist down, and it is unknown if or when he will walk again.

“I’m not sad. I’m not sorry. I’m angry. And I’m tired. I haven’t cried one time. I stopped crying years ago. I am numb,” Widman continued. “I have been watching police murder people that look like me for years. I don’t want your pity. I want change.”

She talked about the way Black people have been brutalized by police for generations, highlighting how racism and police violence are ingrained in the history of the United States.

“So many people have reached out to me saying they’re sorry that this has been happening to my family,” she began. “Well don’t be sorry because this has been happening to my family for a long time, longer than I can account for. It happened to Emmett Till, Emmett Till is my family. It happened to Philando, Mike Brown, Sandra.”

The shooting happened around 5 p.m. on Sunday when officers responded to calls of a domestic incident. Video circulating of the incident shows Blake walking away from police officers who were seen pointing their weapons at Blake. He approached an SUV and opened the driver’s side door when an officer grabbed the back of his shirt, and opened fire, landing at least seven shots into Blake’s back. Three of his children — ages three, five, and eight — were in the car when they began firing. Protests and riots in Kenosha have been ongoing since Sunday night.

His sister believes the Kenosha police don’t see her brother as a human being. “His kids are his world,” she said. “But not only that his family is his world. He doesn’t even care about himself, he’s more worried about us. He was not treated like a human that day, he was treated like some foreign object that didn’t belong.”

The Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department and Wisconsin State Patrol are currently investigating the shooting.

To help offset medical and legal expenses, Blake’s family has organized a GoFundMe account. It’s already surpassed $1 million in donations.