Jacob Blake speaks during an interview broadcast on ABC News’ Good Morning America on Jan. 14. Blake, who was shot in the back by a white cop and paralyzed from the waist down, expects to be able to walk again soon, an accomplishment he says will alleviate fear of being shot again.
ABC NEWS / GOOD MORNING AMERICA ARCHIVES, VIA AP
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A black man paralyzed from the waist down after being shot in the back by a white policeman in Kenosha expects to be able to walk soon.
Jacob Blake Jr. was shot and killed seven times by a Kenosha police officer in August 2020, three months after George Floyd was killed by police in Minnesota. Blake’s shooting sparked days of violent protests in the city of about 100,000 people halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee.
A group of protesters called for a list of demands, including the sacking of the Kenosha police officer who shot Jacob Blake last August, marched and blocked the door to the Kenosha Public Security building on Sunday afternoon.
Blake told CNN that he was able to take a few steps during his son’s birthday party last week, which he compared to pushing his legs through a wood chopper. Although he was “so geeked” from the moment that followed months of physical rehabilitation, he does not claim to win.
“Yes, I’m here and yes, I’m about to walk, but I really don’t feel like I survived because it could happen to me again,” Blake told the network. “I didn’t survive until something changed.”
Blake said he continues to experience not only his own shootings but other gun violence in the black community. Last month, during the July 4th fireworks display, when Blake was in Chicago with his family, he called 911 because he later discovered it was an anxiety attack.
“I hear these booms (fireworks) and it doesn’t scare me because I’ve been shot, it scares me because all these people were shot, so every time a boom goes off, I kind of imagine that people are dying “Called Blake.
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