Why What Happens in Kenosha is About What's Happening in the U.S.

All eyes are on the small town of Kenosha Wisconsin.

A jury began deliberations Tuesday in the trial of a teenager who’s charged with murder for killing two people with his rifle during a violent protest in the summer of 2020 over the police shooting of a black man.

Kyle Rittenhouse admits shooting them but only in self-defense. The prosecution says the then-17-year-old boy left his home in nearby Antioch Illinois and went to Kenosha and provoked what happened There are those who call him a vigilante and there are those who call him a hero.

Having lived and worked in Kenosha Wisconsin, it’s the last place you would expect there to be a violent protest over police actions and about race and a high school kid killing two protesters.

Kenosha is a quiet small town that sits along the shore of Lake Michigan, with modest homes, a blue-collar population and where a lot of people live who want to escape the crowds, traffic and crime in the huge city of Chicago.

As a reporter covering the courthouse, city hall and the school board in Kenosha years ago, it was an opportunity to get to know a lot of Kenoshans who were proud of their small town and thankful for living there.

But with the violent protests last year and the contentious murder trial this year, Kenosha has become the latest focus on the racial and political division in our country, something the outcome of this trial won’t end, and sadly, could even make it worse.

(Photo Getty Images)