kiro7 | Kenosha
County Sheriff David Beth in 2018 told reporters that five Black
shoplifters who stole about $5,000 worth of clothing before crashing
into a teenage driver while fleeing police should be “warehoused” and
not allowed to father children.
Beth, who is already under fire following the Aug. 23 shooting of Jacob
Blake by Kenosha city police officers, as well as the killings of two
men subsequently protesting Blake’s shooting, is now facing calls for
his immediate resignation. Those calls stem from, in part, Beth’s
comments regarding a group of Black shoplifters arrested in January
2018.
“I have no issue with these five people completely disappearing,” Beth said during the controversial news conference. “At (this) point, these people are no longer an asset to our community, and they just need to disappear.”
The Washington Post reported
that Beth made his incendiary comments in January 2018 after three men
and two women from Milwaukee shoplifted clothing from a Tommy Hilfiger
outlet store in Kenosha.
Before he even began speaking, Beth admitted that what was to come
would be “un-politically correct.” Four days later, he was forced to
issue a public apology amid backlash from the community and faith
leaders in Kenosha County.
Beth apologized to anyone he offended but refused to retract the comments he’d made.
The 2018 statements are but one of the issues for which the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin has demanded he resign. The organization has also called on Kenosha city police Chief Daniel Miskinis to tender his resignation.
One of the reasons: The Aug. 23 shooting of Blake, a Black man shot at
least seven times in the back by a Kenosha police officer as he tried to
get into his vehicle, where his three children sat waiting for him.
According to Blake’s family, he was partially paralyzed by the shooting.
