I know this subject needs to be (and deserves to be) treated with great care, but I think this is an unfair comparison. I was and am an ardent supporter of (an

I know this subject needs to be (and deserves to be) treated with great care, but I think this is an unfair comparison. I was and am an ardent supporter of (and often, a participant in) the street protests of that era, and for the reforms and abolition for which they were calling. I was in the thick of the tear gas in Portland many times, hoping that our actions might lead to a greater respect for Black lives in the USA. And I wish Rittenhouse had stayed home that evening and that those protesters were alive and uninjured today. That said, comparing his situation to this one is unfair. Rittenhouse was in a violent and confusing scuffle and was injured immediately before engaging. He had a loaded gun pointed at him at the moment he fired at Grosskreutz. Using him as the poster boy for bogus self-defense claims, especially the extremely specious versions of them so often proffered by law enforcement when they kill dogs or humans, seems counter-productive. These guardsmen had no comparable basis for fearing for their lives that day (or in the days prior, when they inflicted grotesque violence, including stabbing 11 people with bayonets).