Aug. 22, 2021 9:15p
(WGTD)---On a stage where police were often times vilified, a police officer spoke up in defense of law enforcement.
Robin Williams is a 31-year-old Black police officer in Texas who has her sights set on running for mayor of Houston. At a weekend rally led by the family of Jacob Blake to mark the first anniversary of the Blake police shooting, Williams joined the chorus who called for the firing of the officer who shot him in the back and side. But she also tried to draw a distinction between good cops and bad ones. "There are some bad apples and we do have to weed them out," Williams said. I'm not oblivious to bad officers. But I'm speaking as a good officer and I love what I do. That means each and every day when I put on my uniform I'm willing to die for each and every one of you."
Although the former Marine now works in Texas, Williams grew up in Chicago.
Williams told the rally that one of her campaign slogans is “back the blue but not the bullies in blue.”
The Kenosha officer who shot Blake, Rusten Sheskey, told investigators that he feared for his life because Blake had a knife. Blake admits that he’d been holding a knife, but said he had no intention of using it on the officer, and at the time, was trying to lay it on the center console of the SUV he was sitting in when shot.
Fewer than 200 people attended Saturday's rally in Civic Center Park.
Other speakers included Justin Blake, Jacob's uncle. He made clear the family is less than pleased with the City of Kenosha's response to the shooting.
They're still calling for the firing of Sheskey. He's been fully reinstated to the force.
Without identifying him or the city's program by name, Blake also criticized Mayor Antaramian's "Commit to Action Roadmap" as being nothing more than a diversionary tactic."The gig is up," Blake said. "We've pulled the curtain back on the Wizard of Oz here in Kenosha and it's over. You can never pull the curtain back. We know who's pulling the switches up here."
The task force, led by a Kenosha pastor, has been meeting in subcommittees but has yet to release any recommendations. Early on, the process included holding several listening sessions.
In a phone interview with WGTD last week, Alder Anthony Kennedy, who represents the area where the Blake shooting took place, said he believes the exercise will pay off in the long run.
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